Grocery Outlet Closing 36 Stores, Cumberland County Among Five South Jersey Closures

Grocery Outlet Holdings said a portfolio review on its March 4 earnings call identified 36 underperforming stores for closure, about 6 percent of its footprint and concentrated on the East Coast with 24 locations in the eastern U.S. The company, which had roughly 570 stores across 16 states at the end of 2025, said it will still operate more than 500 stores nationwide after the cuts and intends to complete the exits during the fiscal year.

New Jersey figures on the closure list include six stores, five of them in South Jersey: Delran, 4004 Route 130; Gibbstown, 401 Harmony Road; Hazlet, 3057 NJ-35; Mays Landing, 190 Hamilton Commons Drive; Rio Grande, 3174 Route 9, Suite 5; and Sicklerville, 677 Berlin Cross Keys Road. Corporate officials did not supply specific final dates for every site, but local operators said Mays Landing and Gibbstown will close March 21.

Mays Landing operators posted on Facebook: "Unfortunately, the Mays Landing store is among the locations impacted by this decision. While this news is deeply disappointing, we remain profoundly grateful for the opportunity we have had to serve this community." The Mays Landing store, which opened less than two years ago in the Hamilton Commons Shopping Center on the Black Horse Pike and replaced a former Lane Bryant, faced a crowded retail market with Acme, Aldi, ShopRite, Target and Walmart all within a few miles. Gibbstown owners wrote on social media: "When we opened our doors, our goal was to bring the community great deals and a clean, safe place to shop. Unfortunately, due to a lack of consistent support from the community, we were unable to keep the store operating."

Company leadership framed the closures as corrective. President and CEO Jason Potter, who joined the company just over a year ago, said the chain had "expanded too quickly" and that fourth-quarter results were "unacceptable," adding there is "more work to do than we expected." Potter also said the company believes "value perception had eroded," and that sales began to decline in late September partly because EBT distributions "negatively impacted our SNAP business and affordability." Executives forecast the closures "should improve the company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation to about $12 million."

Grocery Outlet also laid out growth and operational shifts alongside the cuts. After opening 42 stores and closing five in 2025, the chain plans to open another 30 to 33 stores in 2026 under a more disciplined, clustered model and to roll out a model refresh for about 150 stores this year. Potter said the company is "not fully exiting any state, and we believe we have a meaningful opportunity to grow in the east over the long term." The retailer reported its remaining 51 stores in the eastern U.S. ended the fourth quarter with a 3.3 percent increase in sales.

On the property side, the chain is offering affected sites for sublease through a management company. While some local operators have announced final days, company officials have not released a complete, store-by-store closure schedule, leaving questions about the precise timetable and transition plans for employees and landlords as the company carries out its fiscal-year restructuring.