NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, and PARAMUS, NJ - Ground is breaking on what is soon to be one of New Jersey’s most festive and fun-filled grocery store; Stew Leonard’s, the grocery chain that boasts farm fresh food and animated characters to rival Chuck E Cheese, has announced plans to begin construction on an 80,000-square-foot supermarket inside the Paramus Park Mall.

According to reporting from nj.com, the store, which will occupy an anchor spot previously held by Sears, is expected to create more than 350 jobs in addition to “a from-scratch bakery, cut-to-order butcher shop, a fresh seafood department and a kitchen where, throughout the day, a 50-person culinary team will prepare hot foods for catering and a buffet bar.”

The company will, reportedly, source local produce and other goods from farmers in the New Jersey area—with as much as 80 percent of products brought in—or prepared in store—daily.

Stew Leonard’s new New Jersey store is its first proper supermarket in the Garden State, but it will join independently-owned Stew Leonard’s wine stores in Clifton, Paramus and Springfield, as well as six supermarkets spread throughout New York and Connecticut.

Could fresh local fruits and veggies and larger than life mascots be making their way to a market near you? AndNowUKnow will continue to report.

Stew Leonard's