Home Care In Sicklerville, NJ

Construction for a new Grocery Outlet “Bargain Market” store on Cross Keys Road in Gloucester Township NJ is fully underway with a significant contractor presence at the site, completely enveloping the building inside and out.

There are literally construction vehicles, materials or dumpsters on all four sides of the upcoming Cross Keys Road Grocery Outlet building.

The new discount grocery will be taking over a closed 15,000 sf Rite Aid store, which sits at the corner of Johnson Rd and Berlin Cross Keys Rd.

A loyal reader alerted me yesterday to seeing construction trucks at the property, and when I stopped in this morning I was surprised by the amount of activity and vehicles on site!

A concrete excavating company was inside, likely working on breaking up sections of the floor to install utilities in new locations within the building.

Other construction trucks were in the front of the building, and a large tractor trailer is parked off to the side, likely filled with construction materials or store fixtures.

And in the back of the building several electrician trucks and workers were outside in the former drive-thru area.

The updated targeted opening date for this location is: June 27th!

42Freeway brought plans of this store to readers back in May of 2023 when the project moved to the Gloucester Township Planning Board for approval.

My apologies to the many readers who have been asking me for an update on this project… I really haven’t had any answers.

I have on my list to do a video specifically about why commercial projects can take longer to get started, as well as the “waiting for things to start” timeframe when it’s very difficult to get updates.

Simply, while business owners do love 42Freeway when it’s time to open and they want to bring customers in…. in the very early stages of approval and getting the project started through construction, there really is no need for them to talk to me… there’s just no positive outcome to oversharing during that stage.

So after that public planning board meeting.. it’s typically very tough to get updates. And I reached out to Grocery Outlet several times!

And even when constructions starts most developers still do not want to offer dates until the very last minute.. there are just a million things that can go wrong, or just getting those final inspection approvals can be challenging.

Grocery Outlet – Opportunistic Buyers

Grocery Outlet is a discount grocery which has over 400 locations in the United States, but they are just entering the South Jersey marketplace.

They recently opened in Delran NJ and also have a location under construction in Gibbstown, in a portion of the former ShopRite building. I believe they are also working on other South Jersey locations and I’ll have updates on that soon.

There are several aspects to the Grocery Outlet business model that are unique.

The main thing is they are a discount grocery store and call themselves “the largest opportunistic buyers” in the industry, which means traveling the world looking for the most exciting deals at significant discounts … and passing the savings on to customers.

They state that they carry the same top brands you would find in traditional supermarkets, but through smart buying opportunities they could sell it reduce prices. One example they offer is when a product label changes and they are able to buy out the remainder of the prior packaging.

Grocery Outlet also wants to provide a full shopping experience to customers and realizing that not every product can be acquired at steep discounts all the time (or restricted by law), they do fill out the full product mix within all grocery categories including core items such as milk, eggs, and meat

Since deals are always popping up and changing, Grocery Outlet offers “Wow Alerts” where in real time you will get an e-mail of top selling unadvertised deals from your local store sent directly to your inbox. Those deals may be around only for as long as the product supplies last, so it could be a smart thing to sign up!

Another interesting aspect of the Grocery Outlet model is each store is individually owned… a franchise grocery! This offers benefits to the local store as the owners can be more “in tune” with the product mix to support the community.

The Grocery Outlet model seems to be working as in their last quarterly financial data in November they crossed the $1 billion sales mark in a three-month span… which equated to a 9.3% increase in sales year over year!

Links and Locations

Grocery Outlet (Cross Keys)677 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd RdSicklerville, NJ 08081

In a surprising announcement, two area PDQ chicken restaurant locations have abruptly closed; Sicklerville (Cross keys Road) and Cherry Hill (Haddonfield Rd). The Marlton location remains open.

The news of the closing was shared in an email to registered PDQ customers, and was then published at popular Facebook page A View From Evesham (Facebook Post)

No explanation was provided other than:

We are sad to announce that we have made the very difficult decision to close our Sicklerville and Cherry Hill PDQ locations. Our team has become deeply connected to the community and will miss seeing you, our loyal guests, every day

PDQ Chicken Restaurants

The e-mail very clearly states that the Marlton NJ location will remain open.

Update: Commenters at my 42Freeway Facebook page are saying that trucks are already at the Sicklerville/Cross Keys location removing the contents

If you are unfamiliar with PDQ, they first opened in South Jersey in 2015 with the opening of their Sicklerville location At the time they had 38 locations. Today they have about 60 locations with most of them in Florida, centered in areas around Tampa and Orlando.

PDQ is a fast food casual chicken restaurant chain focused on delicious chicken sandwiches… right in the same category as Chick-fil-A.

I have visited PDQ a few times over the years and haven’t paid too much attention to the changes in their menu, but when I wrote about them eight years ago they featured a variety of chicken sandwiches and tenders, milkshakes and even Turkey sandwiches.

PDQ also targeted a fresh food dining experience where the chicken was never frozen, and French Fries were a natural cut and not coated.

What the Cluck is going on?

As I mentioned, the Sicklerville location opened in 2015… And since that time the fast food chicken market has greatly expanded in the United states.

I give a lot of that credit to the 2019 introduction of the Popeye’s chicken sandwich.

Sure, prior to 2015 we had Chick-fil-A and a variety of chicken sandwich options at the traditional burger based fast food joints… But that 2019 introduction of the Popeye’s chicken sandwich completely shook up the fast food industry!

In my opinion the only thing that rocked the industry more was when McDonald’s first introduced the Egg Mcmuffin, which created the fast-food breakfast category probably 50 years ago.

But honestly the Popeye’s chicken sandwich was still unique… in that when it was announced it was like an earthquake shook up the entire industry.

Popeye’s immediately experienced a 42% increase in sales at their restaurants in the next three month quarter….totaling 100s of millions of dollars! That is an unheard of new product introduction, in any business category!

From what I remember even at that time the iconic chicken restaurant KFC wasn’t even really offering a chicken sandwich… but soon they were.

In fact, soon everyone jumped on the chicken sandwich bandwagon, including the “burger joints”.

It seems everyone in the industry missed that the public was craving a new and delicious chicken sandwich offering… Popeye’s tapped into it… and all of the fast food chains wanted a piece of that action.

Soon everyone was introducing new or updated versions of their sandwiches, as well as new players started coming into the marketplace… including for South Jersey the upcoming Raising Cane’s Chicken Tender restaurant which is building several locations in the South Jersey marketplace.

While the Sicklerville location is located in Camden County, there are three Raising Cane’s locations being developed in Gloucester County which are just a few miles away from Cross Keys Rd. (Washington Township, Glassboro, Deptford)

I’ve covered Raising Cane’s significantly this year as they are building out six or seven locations.… and each time I’ve noted that the Raising Cane’s brand has a huge and loyal following who call themselves “Caniacs”

And of course Chick-Fil-A is the king in the local chicken sandwich category.

But yet even Chick-fil-A is bracing itself for further battles (Raising Cane’s) as they are in the middle of an expensive process to remodel and expand existing locations with a big focus on improving the throughput of the drive-thru…

So again it’s not clear exactly why these two PDQ locations have closed, but when you factor in the increased competition in the chicken sandwich category in the area, as well as the new introductions of Raising Cane’s… but good ol’ American competition is likely a big part of the reason.

Links and Locations

PDQ Chicken Restaurants

A new Wingstop chicken wing eatery opened a few days ago on Cross Keys Road in the Sicklerville section of Gloucester Township. They are located next to Nick’s Pizza, which is near the Sicklerville Road intersection.

42Freeway first brought news of the new Wingstop to readers back in July of last year, when construction had just started on the interior fit out for the unit. Now almost seven months later they are open… Just in time for this weekend’s Super Bowl wing orders!

I stopped in yesterday at the new Wingstop, and honestly word is quickly getting out already as they seemed very busy… and it was mid afternoon when I visited, not lunch or dinner! During my late lunch there were several customers in the store, as well several people popping in to pick up takeout/delivery orders.

Honestly Wingstop seems to have a big fanbase with area diners as the few times I’ve visited them in Deptford and Blackwood (opened in December 2022) they always have a good number of customers in the store.

Wingstop offers a consistently delicious meal at a reasonable price point (in comparison to other quick serve restaurants)… which seems to keep people coming back again and again.

It must be a common trend across the entire chain because a quick look at their stock price shows they have literally doubled in price from a year ago, rising from $158 to $297 today!

In keeping with the “do a few things, and do them well” model, the three or four locations that I’ve stopped at over the years are literally exact duplicates of each other! So if you’ve been to other Wingstop locations in the area, you’ll likely know exactly what the new Cross Keys Road location is all about.

Wingstop Cross Keys Rd.(Sicklerville)

Today, Wingstop has over 1.900 locations based on a menu which features wings, tenders, sandwiches, fries and desserts… but it all started 30 years ago with one small restaurant only serving chicken wings!

Today, the restaurants are not overly large but there is space to have tables for dine-in customers. That being said it does feel like a large portion of their business is geared towards takeout and delivery.

The stores are typically narrow and deep, and when you enter the Cross Keys Road location you’ll see a small front customer order area with the counter and kitchen on the right side, and then several tables going down the left side.

Orders can be placed online or in the store, and as mentioned delivery services are a big part of the business model

Wingstop Dining Experience

Wingstop’s signature item are their fresh and delicious chicken wings (bone-in or boneless), served with your choice of sauces or rubs and dip (blue cheese/ranch).

They also offer chicken sandwiches and tenders.

Combos are a great option to include fries and a drink. Wingstop also has large Group Packs for your next party or an upcoming NFL Superbowl party!

Their seasoned French Fries are also a big seller and are hand-cut for maximum freshness. Variations include Louisiana Voodoo Fries, Buffalo Ranch, or Cheese fries.

Wingstop even has a Cajun Fried Corn! Yes… corn on the cob with Wingstop seasonings.

A big feature of their wings are the Wingstop sauces. They feature 12 different sauces (plus plain) and varying degrees of heat. Some of the flavors are wet based sauce and others are dry… like a dry rub.

To navigate the sauce options, online they have the “Heat Scale” where you can slide the meter to a level of “how hot” and it tells you which flavors are a match.

One last interesting twist at Wingstop is they do not have trash cans in the dining area!

As told to me by a Wingstop manager at another location, since the first Wingstop was founded in a very hot part of Texas, they found having the trashcans in the dining area on really hot days just didn’t make for the best dining experience. So they kept the trash in the back, and cleaned up the tables for the customers.

And today they still carrying on that tradition… yes you leave your trash at the table, where the staff will quickly collect (or you can bring up to the register).

Links And Location

Wingstop Sicklerville (Cross Keys)583 Berlin Cross Keys RdSicklerville, NJ 08081

Location Website

The popular Wingstop chicken wing and tenders restaurant continues their South Jersey expansion with a location coming to Berlin-Cross Keys Rd, in a unit next to Nick’s pizza.

Hollywood Tans is on the left side of the upcoming Wingstop unit, which was previously a Sprint Mobile Phone store.

A 42Freeway reader pointed us towards the construction activity at the small unit next to the pizzeria, which includes a construction permit sticker on the window clearly identifying “wingstop – tenant fitout” in the description.

Interior walls are framed out in the traditional Wingstop style so that there is a front customer ordering area, an ordering counter positioned off to the right, and space down the left side to the back of the restaurant, which normally includes room for seating and leads to restrooms.

This unit does appear to be a little bit smaller in size than those that are open in Deptford or Blackwood-Clementon Rd, but I have not seen the plans at this point to understand the full build out.

What started as a small chicken wing restaurant almost 30 years ago now serves tenders, chicken sandwiches, fries and desserts. From one location in 1994 to over 1,500 locations today… they must be doing something right!

Location of this upcoming Wingstop is between Hollywood Tans and Nick’s Pizza, close to the Sicklerville Road intersection. (You can access the shopping center and Wingstop from Sicklerville Rd, also). McDonald’s and Spark Car Wash are located basically across the street.

Cross Keys Road – A Hot Location!

Berlin Cross Keys Rd. has been getting a lot of attention from retailers in the last year.

Plans for the roadway include the following “in play” retail projects; Crave Cookies, Johnny Longhots, Rayaki Ramen, Aspen Dental, Chase Bank, Grocery Outlet, Super Wawa, Modwash Car Wash, and Mission BBQ

Plus Jersey GOAT is now open in the former Tilted Kilt.

A sad piece of news is that Bertucci’s closed, but it seems they already have some interest in the property… more on that later.

Wingstop – Chicken Wings, Tenders and More!

Wingstop’s restaurants are not overly large but they are designed smart so there is seating available.

And they seem to do a big business in take-out and delivery, as they have a dedicated pick-up line area. There is no drive-thru.

One interesting twist is they do not have trash cans for the customers!

One popular story online is that they consider you a guest, and guests should not have to clean up.

But another story told to me by a Wingstop manager is, since the first Wingstop was founded in very hot Texas, they found having the trashcans in the dining area on really hot days just didn’t make for the best dining experience.

They would put the trash cans away from the dining room, and of course they didnt want customers going out of their way to walk to thrash cans… so the employees would pick up the customers’ trash.

So to carrying on that tradition, they still want you to leave your trash at the table where the staff will quickly collect (or you can bring up to the register).

The menu at Wingstop isn’t over complex but still offers a variety of options. You can order individual pieces but they lean towards the full combos (as does every fast food restaurant)

Combos include traditional wings (bone or boneless) in combo sizes based on the number of pieces.

Their French Fries are also a big seller and are hand-cut seasoned fries. Of course fries are part of the combos but they do a big business on their own and include a “loaded fries” option including a couple others.

A big feature of their wings are the Wingstop sauces. They feature 12 different sauces (plus plain) and varying degrees of heat.

Some of the flavors are wet based sauce and others are dry… like a dry rub.

To navigate the sauce options, online they have the “Wing Calculator” where by entering a few fiter criteria you can find your perfect sauce to try!

Links and Locations

Wingstop – Coming Soon579 Berlin – Cross Keys Rd|Sicklerville, NJ 08081, USA

A house in Haddonfield that sold for $1.3 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Camden County in the past week.

In total, 91 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $305,308, $204 per square foot.

The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of Oct. 23 even if the property may have been sold earlier.

10. $455K, single-family home at 11 Lamp Post Lane

The property at 11 Lamp Post Lane in Cherry Hill has new owners. The price was $455,000. The house was built in 1965 and has a living area of 1,712 square feet. The price per square foot is $266. The deal was finalized on Oct. 10.

9. $465K, detached house at 1 Darby Lane

The property at 1 Darby Lane in Cherry Hill has new owners. The price was $465,000. The house was built in 1961 and has a living area of 1,720 square feet. The price per square foot is $270. The deal was finalized on Oct. 12.

8. $480K, single-family residence at 9 Gardenia Court

The sale of the single-family residence at 9 Gardenia Court, Sicklerville, has been finalized. The price was $480,000, and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 1989 and has a living area of 2,632 square feet. The price per square foot was $182. The deal was finalized on Oct. 12.

7. $510K, single-family house at 102 Harmony Circle Road

The sale of the single family residence at 102 Harmony Circle Road in Sicklerville has been finalized. The price was $510,000, and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 2004 and has a living area of 2,412 square feet. The price per square foot was $211. The deal was finalized on Oct. 12.

6. $537K, single-family residence at 91 Charlann Circle

The 3,072 square-foot detached house at 91 Charlann Circle in Cherry Hill has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in October and the total purchase price was $537,000, $175 per square foot. The house was built in 1970. The deal was finalized on Oct. 6.

5. $560K, single-family house at 38 Beaver Dam Drive

A sale has been finalized for the detached house at 38 Beaver Dam Drive in Sicklerville. The price was $560,000 and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 2006 and the living area totals 3,336 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $168. The deal was finalized on Oct. 6.

4. $630K, single-family home at 14 Kings Croft Lane

The 2,184 square-foot single-family house at 14 Kings Croft Lane, Voorhees, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in October and the total purchase price was $630,000, $288 per square foot. The house was built in 1984. The deal was finalized on Oct. 6.

3. $745K, detached house at 36 Callison Lane

The 2,568 square-foot detached house at 36 Callison Lane, Voorhees, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in October and the total purchase price was $745,000, $290 per square foot. The house was built in 1988. The deal was finalized on Oct. 6.

2. $1.2 million, single-family house at 620 Cedar Ave.

The 3,164 square-foot single-family home at 620 Cedar Ave. in Haddonfield has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in October and the total purchase price was $1,175,000, $371 per square foot. The house was built in 2005. The deal was finalized on Oct. 6.

1. $1.3 million, detached house at 745 Cedar Ave.

A sale has been finalized for the single-family residence at 745 Cedar Ave. in Haddonfield. The price was $1,325,000 and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 1956 and the living area totals 1,456 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $910. The deal was finalized on Oct. 6.

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.