The former Foodtown store at Toms River Center. (Photo: Shorebeat)
A major restaurant supply store is seeking to occupy the space of a Toms River supermarket that closed more than a decade ago and has been vacant ever since.
Restaurant Depot is seeking township approvals to open a new location in the former Foodtown supermarket at the Toms River Center, located just east of the Garden State Park at the intersection of Route 37 and Route 166. The store closed mid-2015, with company officials citing competition from the massive ShopRite supermarket built across the highway, as well as overall market trends. The Toms River Center location represented the last gasp of Foodtown’s presence in Ocean County.
The township’s planning board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposal at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at town hall to consider Restaurant Depot’s application. The company is requesting preliminary and final major site plan approval as well as a number of variances. Plans call for facade alterations, construction of a new trash enclosure and parking lot improvements at the site, which is located within the township’s Highway Business zone.
Restaurant Depot is asking the board for two variances from local sign regulations. The company proposes five wall signs, exceeding the township’s maximum of two, and a total wall sign area of 355 square feet, more than triple the 100-square-foot limit. In addition, the applicant is seeking three design waivers. Those include permission for an 8-foot fence in the front yard, where only 4 feet is normally allowed; elimination of required landscaping around the solid waste storage area; and narrower parking islands measuring 5.5 feet wide instead of the required minimum of 10 feet.
If Restaurant Depot were to take over the entirety of the Foodtown store, it would measure 72,600 square feet in area. The nearest location of the restaurant supply chain to Toms River, currently, is located in Neptune Township.
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