BY ERIKA NORTON
WEST MILFORD — The ShopRite of West Milford — the only supermarket in town — closed on Sunday afternoon after a heater problem.
The grocery store closed at 3:30 p.m. on July 30 after a problem with a heater at the rear of the building was detected, according to Karen O'Shea, a spokesperson for Wakefern Food Corp. The equipment was fixed and the store reopened at 10:30 p.m. that same night.
“The store is fully operational and normal business hours (7 a.m. to 12 a.m.) resumed today,” O’Shea said on Monday. “We thank our customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”
This incident comes after plans for a major renovation — including a redesign of the main entrance, update of the 1960s facade, expansion of the interior by about 4,000 square feet, and improvement of the parking lot — were recently being delayed. In December, the project was expected to start as early as March and take seven to eight months, but now it is expected to begin at the end of summer and take approximately nine to 12 months.
The approval process for the renovation was set in motion late last year, but Inserra Supermarkets, the 22-store chain, first filed renovation plans with the West Milford Planning Board back in 2008.
The parking lot was reconfigured and paved earlier this year, but no work has been done since.
Messenger readers expressed their frustrations with the West Milford ShopRite in the comments section of westmilfordmessenger.com. Some said they hoped another supermarket would move into where the Hewitt A&P was, which permanently closed in 2015. Others on Facebook said they now shop at the ShopRite in Warwick, N.Y.
In a comment on Facebook, Rick DeYoung said, “When you're the only store in town you can step up and make it worth your customers time to shop there. ShopRite of West Milford has failed to do this.”