For the first time in more than three years, New Hope may host two grocery stores with an anticipated but unconfirmed move by McCaffrey’s.
When queried about details, McCaffrey’s administrative assistant Lisa Fulforth would only provide a single “direct quote” from owner James J. McCaffrey: “We are working on it, but nothing to confirm yet. Watch our Facebook page for future announcements.”
The Facebook page can be found at facebook.com/OfficialMcCaffreysSuperMarkets.
Fulforth could not provide an anticipated timeline for an announcement other than at Facebook.
The projected store would occupy the space currently used by Staples in the New Hope Shopping Center at 300 W. Bridge St. Staples will close its New Hope branch on Feb. 8. The retailer closed 70 stores in 2017 and close to 50 the year before, part of a trend that has seen 350 stores shuttered between 2012 and 2017.
The New Hope store is a few doors east of the old Super Fresh grocery store, occupied by a Cornerstone Clubs fitness center.
The recently expanded Giant Market in New Hope is part of a larger chain of stores owned by Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch international retailer based in the Netherlands. The parent company owns 2,100 stores in six chains across 22 states. The Giant store at Logan Square is one of 171 Giant Martins covering Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
McCaffrey’s draws a sharp contrast to that, bringing a decidedly smaller, home-grown supermarket to the community. Limited to just six stores in Southeast Pennsylvania and Central New Jersey, New Hope would be a seventh store for the growing Bucks County-based McCaffrey’s chain.
According to a press release in February 2017, McCaffrey’s was the winner of Progressive Grocer’s Overall Outstanding Fresh Excellence in the 5th annual Outstanding Independent Awards. Stating a “focus on fresh in every department,” the store’s departments partner with local farmers and suppliers.
