‘A tough decision’ — Upscale supermarket in New Jersey closing

Published reports say a company that owns thousands of supermarkets across the country, with dozens here in New Jersey, will be closing an upscale store in the Garden State by the end of the summer.

The good news is, however, that employees who want to keep working for that company "will have the opportunity to be reassigned to open positions at nearby stores."

As reported by NorthJersey.com, Albertsons has decided to close their Kings Food Markets store on Main Street in Chatham, Morris County, by September 1st.

Albertsons, which also owns Acme stores across the region, is in the process of merging with Kroger in a $25 billion deal, but the closure of this store is not related to that deal.

• READ MORE: A Look Inside a JCPenney Store in New Jersey That Closed Many Years Ago

A spokesperson for Albertsons told TAPintoMorristown,

Closing a store is always a tough decision. Our focus remains on growing our business, which sometimes involves reinvesting resources into existing stores and exploring potential new locations. We look forward to continuing to provide our customers with clean, fresh, full, and friendly shopping experiences.

After the Kings store in Chatham closes, 15 will remain in New Jersey.

Locals React

Some folks who live around the store that is closing expressed their views on Facebook:

• "Kings is such a nice store - what a shame"

• "Wow, I mean wow, what a loss for the town. Back in my day, we didn't just up and close a store that's been a staple for years. Kings was more than just a grocery store; it was a community hub."

• "Wow! It’s been there forever!!"

News of this store closing comes just after Stop & Shop announced it would be closing some underperforming stores in the near future.

Meanwhile, if you've lived in New Jersey for a while, maybe you remember shopping at Pathmark — let's take a look inside a store that was about to close in 2012...