Long lines of customers at ShopRite opening

Nine years after it was proposed and two years after construction began, the ShopRite of Sussex held its grand opening Wednesday, Oct. 25.

The Wallkill Valley Regional High School Marching Band provided the drum roll as the mayors of Sussex and Wantage along with three generations of the Romano family cut the ribbon for the new store at 1 Wiebel Plaza.

They were surrounded by store employees and local politicians, including state Assemblyman Parker Space and Sussex County Commissioner Jill Space.

After the ceremony, shoppers lined up to enter the 87,000-square-foot supermarket, the largest owned by RoNetco Supermarkets. The company, owned by the Romano family, has been in business for 97 years.

Dominick Romano, co-president and chief operating officer of RoNetco, said the store opening was “a very exciting moment for us at RoNetco and all of our associates to be part of this community.”

”It took a while but we got through with the help of the town council ... very rewarding today, very rewarding.”

Store within a store

The ShopRite of Sussex is the only store in the ShopRite cooperative to have a hardware store inside. “It’s our first experiment,” Romano said.

The True Value store was included because there was extra space and executives learned that some stores in the Midwest offer hardware, he said. “We thought it’d be something different to try within this area, and we know this area up here is in need of a hardware store.”

The supermarket also has a pharmacy, a bakery, a food-to-go department, including pizza made from scratch and sushi made daily. The seafood department has the only U.S. Department of Agriculture Grade A fish sold at a supermarket; the fish is flown in daily.

The store features large photographs of High Point Monument, Sunrise Mountain, Lake Marcia and Clove Acres Lake. They were taken by Chris Backer, RoNetco’s project manager of architecture & design, on hikes he took.

Eager shoppers

Two lines of shoppers stretched to the far end of the parking lot about 15 minutes after the ribbon-cutting ceremony concluded.

Michelle Marzulli of Wantage watched the ceremony, then got in line with her basket.

“I was curious,” she said when asked why she came to the opening. “I might regret it; it’s going to be so crowded.”

The new store means that she doesn’t have to drive to the ShopRites in Newton, Sparta or even Wharton in Morris County.

It also brings about 250 full- and part-time jobs to the area and will help attract new businesses to Sussex and Wantage, the mayors of those towns said before the ceremony.

Sussex Mayor Edward Meyer called the new supermarket “the centerpiece of our revitalization and the economic development of the area.”

In addition to bringing jobs, it will increase local property values, he said.

Wantage Mayor Jon Morris said, “This is an amazing opportunity for our community, both of our communities, and this is a huge anchor point for economic development for us.

”This is a big deal. We have not had anything like this for as long as I can remember.

”The Romano family has committed to our community and we’re really excited about it,” he added.

Rich Klein, chairman of the Sussex Planning Board, pointed out that Sussex and Wantage officials worked together for many years to attract the store.

CORRECTION: State Assemblyman Parker Space was listed with an incorrect title in an earlier version of this article.