Home Care In Sewell, NJ

Playa Bowls calls themselves New Jersey’s Original Acai Shop, and soon they are opening in Washington Township at the Tower Square shopping center on Egg Harbor Rd. This is the shopping center that is also home to the Village Pub bar/restaurant.

An Anytime Fitness gym is also planned for the shopping center, and while progress has seemed to be slow since I wrote about them back at December… the location signage for Anytime Fitness has been installed.

Playa Bowls’ menu consists of healthy fruits and other ingredients arranged in beautifully prepared bowls, which gives a delicious yet healthy meal or treat. They also offer smoothies and juices.

Playa Bowls Menu

The signature bowls typically are built around a base fruit such as acai berries, mango or coconut, and then topped with a variety of other delicious flavors including banana, strawberries, apple, granola and even Nutella.

it’s a fresh and delicious healthy meal made with the freshest ingredients.

if you’re unfamiliar with acai… it is a small fruit found on acai palm trees in South America. The berries are very similar to grapes.

The flesh and skin of the acai berry is packed with vitamins and nutrients, and is also low in calories. Acai is considered to be a “superfood: where it provides benefits such as antioxidants, fiber, heart healthy fats and calcium

The core menu is based around bowls of a base fruit and then topped with a variety of healthy deliciousness, the menu offers several categories of bowls as well as smoothies, juices, cold brews and more.

Right now their online website menu list almost 40 different bowl recipes, and it seems they were updated for the fall season… offering bowls such as the “Jack of Lantern Acai Bowl” which features pumpkin flax, granola, banana, pumpkin butter and pumpkin spice.

Bowl categories include acai, pitaya (dragonfruit), coconut, banana, chia pudding and oatmeal bowls.

The “green” category features five different bowls based on a kale blend, which is then also topped with delicious and fresh fruits, granola and coconut

Playa Bowls Sewell

The news of this new Playa Bowls Sewell location comes from Facebook where they created a new page specific to the location, and added the announcement that they were coming soon to Tower Square. That post was then shared to several local Facebook groups.

Construction has not started on the unit as it appears the lease was recently signed, but the local operators are encouraging people to “like” their Facebook page, as they will be posting construction updates, as well as grand opening details.

The unit is “H” which is a prime center location in the curved shopping center, directly underneath the Tower Square main signage.

With Playa Bowls taking the center unit, directly next to them on one side is Quick Pack, and the other side is Dare2 boutique.

The Playa Bowls unit was previously home to ETG Financial. I am not aware of the status of ETG Financial.

There are Playa Bowls locations in Cherry Hill, Marlton and Rowan Boulevard. I visited the Rowan location over 5 years ago. Additionally they have locations along the Jersey shore including Cape May, Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Sea Isle, Ocean City, Somers Point, Ventnor and more!

The interior decor was very tropical with fun and bright colored graphics and design… I’d imagine we’ll see a similar fun design in the upcoming Sewell location.

The photo I have of the Rowan’s menu from back in 2018 is extensive! Several core categories of delicious items, with different recipes in each category.

Playa Bowls: 190 Locations, Started in New Jersey

Playa Bowls started in the New Jersey beach town of Belmar, in Monmouth county.

Two New Jersey surfers Robert Giuliani and Abby Taylor were spending time traveling around the world to tray different surfing spots and realized that superfruit acai and pitaya bowls where a part of the surfer’s diet.. but it really had not made its way into New Jersey.

The two originally started with a small patio table, a blender and a frigid freezer set up and created a pop-up stand on the sidewalk in front of a pizza shop.

From that humble beginnings as a sidewalk business under an umbrella, has grow to creating a brand and business which now has over 190 locations!

Links and Location

Playa Bowls Sewell – Coming Soon137 Egg Harbor Road – Unit HSewell, NJ 08080

A new Wawa convenience store and gas station is set to open Thursday morning at the Five-Points intersection in Washington Township NJ. The Grand Opening celebration starts at 8:00am and the ribbon cutting set for 8:30am.

Directly next to the Wawa, a brand new Burger King restaurant has also been developed which also looks ready to go, but the BK is waiting for final approvals before they start flame-broiling burgers.

I actually had a chance today to walk through the Burger King restaurant! I’ll share a few photos in a second but let’s focus on Wawa first!

While they are operating as separate businesses, both Wawa and Burger King share the same roadway access points, which lead into connected parking areas.

Also, as part of the opening of the new “Sewell” Wawa, unfortunately a classic Wawa will be closing… located about 1.5 miles away in Deptford; Route 41 and County House Road. This is extra sad to me because that is my neighborhood Wawa!

Wawa Sewell – Washington Township

Wawa is a large convenience store and gas station brand which is on a significant growth plan.. both in store density in existing areas, as well as expanding into new regions.

Based in the Philadelphia area, their signature food item is the hoagie.. but Wawa is constantly experimenting with new food offerings, including chicken sandwiches, burgers and pizza!

The new Washington Township Wawa is at the Five-Points intersection where Route 47, Route 41, Egg Harbor Road… and Blackwood-Barnsboro Road all meet.

Wawa realizes that a new store is a big exciting moment for the community, so they will be celebrating the opening with a morning of fun activities and free coffee!

The first 100 customers at 8:00 AM will grab a free Wawa T-shirt! (Note: I’ve been to these openings before and people really do line up early!)

Free coffee will be available for all attendees.

And one of their signature Grand Opening community events is the “Hoagies for Heroes” competition where two local emergency services teams compete against each other in a fun hoagie making experience! Wawa makes donations to associated charities.

And of course Wally Goose will be on hand, as well as members of the Wawa management team and local Washington Township officials.

This new Wawa sits along Egg Harbor Road, but right up into the Five-Points intersection.

Access into the Wawa property is front and back of the building… from Egg Harbor Road (Northbound only) and then also from the rear/side of the property utilizing the recently relocated Blackwood-Barnsboro Rd.

The Blackwood-Barnsboro road entrance has the benefit of a traffic signal at Egg Harbor Road which manages safe access to customers from all directions.

Interestingly enough my very first article on this Wawa was exactly five years to today… November 29th 2018!

At the time it wasn’t even really an official announcement… but I had tracked down some real estate marketing documents showing the proposed Wawa as well as a plot of land directly next to the convenience store. Back in 2018 the developer was looking for the second tenant (to join Wawa)… which we know today is Burger King.

if you follow along at the 42Freeway Facebook page, you’re well aware that this Wawa has been eagerly waited by the community for a long time… and at times people thought it just wasn’t coming!

But after covering a dozen or more of these new “Super” Wawas I can share that this project was a little more challenging than others.

First off, the core of this construction timeframe landed right in the middle of a global pandemic.

Additionally, the site preparation for this Wawa is likely one of the most challenging in South Jersey.

Blackwood-Barnsboro Road was literally relocated before the Wawa could be built. The old roadway route… literally goes right through the store!

So let me be clear… there are legit traffic management reasons for moving Blackwood-Barnsboro roadway connection point further back away from the intersection (on Egg Harbor Road).

Mainly, previously traffic at the Five-Points intersection would almost always back up from the light and with the old location of Blackwood-Barnsboro so close… the roadway would be blocked! Plus there was no traffic signal for Blackwood-Barnsboro.

With the new location of Blackwoods-Barnsboro Road being almost 500 feet further back from the intersection, it gives a lot more room for cars waiting at the main intersection traffic signal, as well as Blackwood-Barnsboro gains a traffic signal at Egg Harbor Road.

When you factor in all the variety of extended approvals from the township, County and State levels… you start realizing that a lot more coordination and approvals went into the this project than normal.

An in that mix of the roadway relocation, a larger contiguous plot of land was developed… enabling the development of Wawa and Burger King.

The new Wawa at Five Points Sewell Washington Township opens on November 30^th

Facebook Event

Burger King Five-Points Washington Township

The new plot of land that was created by the relocation of Blackwood-Barnsboro road actually has room for two commercial businesses…. Wawa was first to jump in, and then at a later date Burger King signed on to share the extended plot with them.

The new Burger King is not open yet but it appears that construction is done, and unofficially I’ve been told they are waiting on final approvals which they expect to be only a few weeks away.

I stopped over today at the Burger to check out the new building and caught up with a member of the Burger King franchise team

It’s my understanding that this new Burger King is a relatively newer design model for the flame broiled burger chain.

It features a higher 14-foot high ceiling, where that space was used to install large glass panels to provide and open view into the restaurant from outside, as well as a more dramatic dining experience for customers.

It’s a modern design restaurant with some aspects of an urban feel to it.

As mentioned, at this point an opening date has not been locked in

Links and Locations

Wawa Sewell Washington Twp 5-Pts (Opening Nov 30)Egg Harbor Road and Blackwood-Barnsboro RdWashington Township NJ

A brand new Playa Bowls “Acai Shop” opened this morning in Washington Township NJ, in the Tower Square shopping center located on Egg Harbor Road near the 5-points intersection. (Many know the center from the Village Pub)

This new Sewell location is owned by a Gloucester County family, Krissy and Greg… who with their three young girls are excited to be offering the delicious and healthy Playa Bowls product line to the Gloucester County community! Plus wait until you see how awesome the store’s interior is! You’ll be transported to the beach!

If you are unfamiliar, Playa Bowls’ signature items are bowls typically built around a frozen but smooth base fruit such acai berries, banana or coconut. The also offer smoothies and fresh juices.

For the bowls, after a base is chosen they are then then topped with a variety of other delicious flavors including bananas, strawberries, apple, blueberries, peanut butter, granola and even Nutella.

The combination of delicious frozen base and fresh sweet and healthy ingredients on top, really makes for a delicious treat and healthy meal that people eat throughout the year.

Playa Bowls is for everyone of all ages, but its also one of those places that has a fanatical following particularly with young adults. While it maybe newer to us older folks, trust me… for the under 30 crowd it’s well known and loved.

Just take your kids to the new Playa Bowls… they’ll love you for it!

Playa Bowls was founded in North Jersey and today has over 200 locations.

The brand’s tagline is “New Jersey’s original Acai Shop” which lets you know that the acai base is their signature product base.

The acai berry is renown for its vast range of energy-boosting, cell-healing, immune-stimulating properties. This berry is what got this whole party started! The purple berries are made into a delicious, lightly sweet smooth frozen base… which I would say is slightly thicker than a water ice base. More on that down below.

While I am focusing on the signature Acai Bowls, the menu is extensive and likely has over 50 different options.

Bowl Categories are; Acai, Green (Kale), Pitaya, Banana, Coconut, Chia Pudding, Oatmeal and a variety of special bowls. The also offer 11 different smoothies and 7 fresh juice options!

Playa Bowls Sewell – Locally Owned

As mentioned, the Sewell Washington Twp location is locally owned by a Gloucester County couple, Greg and Krissy!

I loved Greg’s line at the Grand Opening ceremony this morning “It’s like a 30 minute vacation every time you visit”

And when you visit the store you will realize he’s not exaggerating… as the interior design and decor of the store really is awesome, carrying a tropical beach theme throughout with amazing festive wall murals… which even has a big shoutout to the community!

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Playa Bowls friends and family event last night and then I stopped in this morning for the Grand Opening. The event was hosted by the Washington Twp Chamber of Commerce and was also attended by the Township’s Council and newly appointed Mayor, Laurie Burns.

The entire family then cut the ribbon!

These are stories I really love writing because the owners are just regular Gloucester County people doing good things in life who decided to move into their own business.

The inspiration for owning a Playa Bowls started after a vacation to Puerto Rico, where they tried a variety of Acai bowls from local vendors. The flavors and experience stayed with them when they returned home… which led the couple to decide that Playa Bowls would be a great business opportunity for them in Gloucester County!

Supporting the community is important to the family, which is one of the bonus aspects that attracted them to Playa Bowls. Playa Bowls puts a significant focus on working with the community, and features fundraising opportunities and other benefits.

I was at Playa Bowls Sewell early this morning and left around 10:30am as they were getting ready for the official opening at 11:00 AM.

The couple also have three young girls who were also on hand to help out at Mom and Dad’s Playa Bowls Grand Opening, handing out drinks to some of the over 150 people who were there waiting in line for the opening!

Festive balloons were set up out front, a DJ was playing outside and a henna tattoo artist was getting ready (although I’m not sure how long the tattoo artist and DJ will be there).

Tell Me More, What is Playa Bowls and Acai?

So I’ve already described how the signature bowls are first started with a base of a smooth but frozen product such as acai, coconut, banana, or other choices… and then a variety of delicious toppings are added on top.

If you’ve never had Playa Bowls before and feel intimidated buy the options, I strongly recommend the Tropical Acai bowl!

And don’t worry you don’t have to think too hard about coming up with your own tasty combinations, as Playa Bowls maintains an extensive menu of delicious preconfigured recipes!

So now you’re wondering “what the heck is acai?”

Acai it is a small fruit found on acai palm trees in South America. The berries are very similar to grapes.

The flesh and skin of the acai berry is packed with vitamins and nutrients, and is also low in calories. Acai is considered to be a “Superfood: where it provides benefits such as antioxidants, fiber, heart healthy fats and calcium”

The berries are made into a purple paste like-texture which is frozen to a smooth consistency. It’s delicious and sweet without being too sweet.

Their menu features almost 40 different bowl recipes, which they update for different seasons of the year.

Bowl categories include acai, pitaya (dragonfruit), coconut, banana, chia pudding and oatmeal bowls.

They also offer plant based products the “green” category features five different bowls based on a kale blend, which is then also topped with delicious and fresh fruits, granola and coconut!

Links and Location

Playa Bowls Sewell137 Egg Harbor Road, Unit HSewell, NJ 08080

A house in Sewell that sold for $515,000 tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Washington Township in the past week.

In total, 19 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $254,247. The average price per square foot was $175.

The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of Sep. 11 even if the property may have been sold earlier.

10. $232,000, condominium at 2301 Wimbledon Way

A sale has been finalized for the condominium at 2301 Wimbledon Way in Blackwood. The price was $232,000 and the new owners took over the condominium in August. The condo was built in 1991 and the living area totals 1,200 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $193. The deal was finalized on Aug. 24.

9. $260,000, single-family house at 104 Dorado Ave.

The sale of the single family residence at 104 Dorado Ave. in Sewell has been finalized. The price was $260,000, and the new owners took over the house in September. The house was built in 1978 and has a living area of 2,193 square feet. The price per square foot was $119. The deal was finalized on Sep. 1.

8. $260,000, townhouse at 32 Canis Court

The 1,511 square-foot townhouse at 32 Canis Court, Sewell, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in September and the total purchase price was $260,000, $172 per square foot. The house was built in 1980. The deal was finalized on Sep. 5.

7. $285,000, single-family home at 24 Deborah Place

The sale of the detached house at 24 Deborah Place, Blackwood, has been finalized. The price was $285,000, and the new owners took over the house in August. The house was built in 1958 and has a living area of 1,260 square feet. The price per square foot was $226. The deal was finalized on Aug. 25.

6. $300,000, single-family residence at 110 Woodbury Turnersville Road

The property at 110 Woodbury Turnersville Road in Blackwood has new owners. The price was $300,000. The house was built in 1920 and has a living area of 1,412 square feet. The price per square foot is $212. The deal was finalized on Aug. 31.

5. $334,900, detached house at 6 Deerfield Lane

The 1,864 square-foot single-family house at 6 Deerfield Lane in Sewell has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in September and the total purchase price was $334,900, $180 per square foot. The house was built in 1978. The deal was finalized on Sep. 1.

4. $345,000, single-family house at 87 Argyle Ave.

The property at 87 Argyle Ave. in Blackwood has new owners. The price was $345,000. The house was built in 1985 and has a living area of 1,933 square feet. The price per square foot is $178. The deal was finalized on Aug. 30.

3. $385,000, single-family residence at 31 Auriga Lane

The property at 31 Auriga Lane in Sewell has new owners. The price was $385,000. The house was built in 1976 and has a living area of 2,496 square feet. The price per square foot is $154. The deal was finalized on Sep. 5.

2. $470,000, single-family home at 6 Samuel Court

The 1,670 square-foot single-family house at 6 Samuel Court, Sewell, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in August and the total purchase price was $470,000, $281 per square foot. The house was built in 1985. The deal was finalized on Aug. 28.

1. $515,000, detached house at 32 Churchill Way

The 2,617 square-foot detached house at 32 Churchill Way in Sewell has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in September and the total purchase price was $515,000, $197 per square foot. The house was built in 1989. The deal was finalized on Sep. 5.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data.

A Sprouts Farmers Market is planned for Egg Harbor Rd. in Washington Township, and they are set for a Zoning Board hearing on September 11, 2023 at 6pm.

UPDATE: This hearing was moved to October 16th, 2023

“Sprouts” is a unique grocery experience offering an open layout with fresh produce as a core aspect of the store.

They carry the true healthy eating theme throughout all aspects of their full grocery offerings, which include; a meat counter, full deli, seafood counter and a large focus on organic, plant based and gluten free products.

The plans call for the Washington Township location are for a 23,256 square foot building for the Sprouts Farmers Market, plus a second smaller retail building of 6,400 square foot.

The lot is currently undeveloped, and by my calculations is about 5 acres total.

Back in March of this year 42 freeway broke the news of the plans for the sprouts location, and residents have been eagerly awaiting additional details.

The public notice hit the newspapers just this morning but I will not be able to see the full site plan until next week, as today is the last day of Washington Township’s Municipal Building summer hours… and like many towns they are closed on Fridays in the summer.

This project is effectively an extension to the existing Harbor Place shopping center (TD Bank, Rita’s) and it is expected that the two properties will connect.

Additionally there will be a new access point onto Egg Harbor Rd. which will be positioned to be in line with the existing traffic light at Selena Rd.

Currently there is a Sprouts store operating in Marlton NJ, and exactly one week from today a second location opens in Haddon Township NJ on Cuthbert Blvd.

Washington Township would be the third one in South Jersey, and give Sprouts one store in each of the three major suburban counties.

Sprouts Farmers Market – “Township” Gets Their Premium Grocery

That March announcement was actually very soon after Sprouts signed on with the property owner, and at that time the design of the property and buildings had not been started yet… so there was a ton of work to be done ahead of any formal approval meetings, both with the developers architects and then Planning Officials with Washington Township and Gloucester County.

For most projects that I write about we’re typically hearing about them much later in the development cycle, and many times we would be learning about them at the time where we are right now… with the announcement of the zoning or planning board meeting.

What was different with this project is, soon after the signing the landlord of the Harbor Place Shopping Center made the existing tenants aware of the exciting news of the upcoming Sprouts… and with many of the store workers living within the community, they started telling friends.

There are so many ways in which I learned about new projects coming to towns, including directly from readers…. thank you very much! But this one’s a little bit funnier (well at least to me).

I learned about the Sprouts news in March when I was having lunch at a Washington Township pizza shop. A customer came in who seemed friendly with the owner of the pizza shop, and the customer said “hey do you know anything about Sprouts? I hear they’re coming to Washington Township, next to that Rita’s Water Ice center”

I was literally standing 10 feet away in the restaurant when that was said, ha! They had no idea the “42Freeway Guy” was there. Ha!

So with that information I was able to reach out to a couple of different folks including the shopping center owner whom back in March confirmed that Sprouts was coming!

Previously Approved Project – 2007

For several years you may have noticed a large real estate sign in front of the wooded portion of the Egg Harbor property, promoting a new shopping center extension… but with no real signs of activity.

Well, back in 2007 the owner of the property was previously approved to develop a shopping center expansion there… the same property where Sprouts is going today.

If you’re younger you may not remember the economic changes that took place in 2008 with the crash of the housing market, which affected lending and construction.

In 2006 the economy was booming, the housing market was on fire, and commercial projects were also booming. Construction oriented financing then was cheap and easy to acquire.

And then in 2008 the financial aspects around the housing market crashed, leading to broader impacts, and for many years development across the country effectively came to a halt.

Literally the year AFTER that initial approval, the economy crashed… and the Egg Harbor property was not developed, despite being approved in 2007.

So in 2023 for the new Sprouts project, while the property was already deemed suitable for commercial development… absolutely today the plans are different than what they were 16 years ago.

So in some ways this new Zoning Meeting is a refresh of that prior approval to match Sprouts’ development plans of today.

There are a few zoning variances requested.

Two aspects which are in almost every town’s zoning/planning hearing; Signage and buffer space.

Additionally they are asking to develop more parking spaces than are required… which typically it’s the other way around!

Normally I see a project asking to be developed where they’re trying to squeeze it into a property that’s too small and doesn’t have enough parking, Sprouts will actually have about 50% more parking spaces then required,

Sprouts Farmers Market

Sprouts is a large and rapidly growing premium Natural/Organic healthy grocery chain with over 380 locations in the United States.

While there are other healthy grocery options in the United states, Sprouts differentiates itself by also putting an emphasis on “fresh”. They make and prepare many grocery category items in the store, when their competition uses significantly more prepackaged product.

Their in-store deli for example went viral on social media recently for their fresh, made-to-order $5 packed deli sandwich deal. Multiple customer video clips reached over a million views each! It actually increased customer visits and revenue! (GroceryDive.com)

And beyond the deli they strive to offer a full shopping experience where everything is under the umbrella of “healthy”

Honestly I had not been in a Sprouts store until a last year when I drove up to see the Marlton location.

My intent at the time was to write about the Westmont store coming but literally days after my visit I found out that the Washington Township location was coming.. And since no one knew of that story, I used those photos from the Marlton store in my Washington Township story. If that makes sense ha!

So in my visit to the Marlton store I found out to be bright, colorful inviting, and it absolutely was an open space which had less of a claustrophobic feeling that you get from a full size supermarket with its rows and rows of tall shelves

I mean there absolutely are product aisles, but in my quick visit it was clear that they were featuring the fresh produce, prepared goods and that lower height shelving

On one hand it feels a little bit like an ALDI, but Sprouts really puts a lot more effort into making it more pleasing to the eye with nice interior graphics, better store design, and just a broader variety of fresh produce… Which brings in mother natures own color palette

Links and Location

Sprouts Zoning HearingSeptember 11, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. Municipal Building523 Egg Harbor RoadSewell, NJ 08080