Kings Grand Re-opening Underway in Bedminster

Shoppers and guests are invited today, Friday, to a grand re-opening of the Kings Food Store off Hills Drive in the Bedminster section of The Hills.

The "food stations" giving out samples of gourmet cheese, bakery items, meat, seafood, Lidia's sauce and pasta and other goodies are expected to remain active through about 5 p.m. on Friday, said Tom McNerny, area director for Kings Food Store.

An official "pasta-cutting," with long ribbons of fresh pasta replacing the usual ribbon for cutting, took place to recognize the completion of the expansion of the store's size and offerings.

The Kings store in Bedminster is the first remodeled store in the chain of 24 Kings Food Stores in New Jersey, with one on Long Island.

"It's good for our local economy, it's good for all of our food hounds," said Bedminster Mayor Bob Holtaway.

McNerny said that during a five-month remodel—during which the supermarket remained open for its usual schedule—changes were made throughout while floor space expanded into an additional 5,000 square feet. The extra space, which became a larger produce and floral department, was taken from smaller vacant storefronts in The Hills Mall off Route 202/206 North and Hills Drive.

The availability of the extra space allowed Kings to broaden its vision of what the remodeled food store would become, McNerney said.

More prepared foods, a coffee bar that serves cappuccino, lattes and other specialty coffee drinks, an expanded meat counter with specialized services and new gourmet foods went into that space.

The original store opened in the mall at the end of the 1980s, McNerney said. He said he believes the food store serves customers within at least a 5-mile radius, including shoppers from Basking Ridge, Bedminster, Bridgewater and elsewhere in the Somerset Hills.

Additional information will be added to this story later this afternoon.