After Kings Closes, Whitehouse Station's Weekly Shop Comes Down to Bishop's or a Drive

The Kings Food Market at 531 Route 22 East in Whitehouse Station will close no later than January 2, 2027. Albertsons, which owns Kings, confirmed the date to TAPinto Flemington/Raritan on October 6. That leaves no more than about twelve weeks of Kings runs from today. Of the supermarkets confirmed for this post, the one still in Whitehouse Station afterward will be Bishop's Supermarket at 431 US-22. Its history in Whitehouse Station starts decades before Kings arrived.

What's Closing and Why

Dana Ward, Albertsons' director of communications and public affairs, told TAPinto that the Whitehouse Station store and a Kings in Hillsdale are both closing because their leases are ending. "With the lease for these locations coming to an end, we made the decision to focus our resources on other locations," she said. Patch reported the same two closures a day earlier.

The two stores employ 168 people between them. Ward said the company's goal is to place as many of them as possible in other stores. Anyone who can't be placed will be eligible for severance under applicable law and their labor agreement.

Kings opened the Whitehouse Station store in April 1997. It held a grand reopening in 2015 after a three-month renovation. By the January deadline it will have been there almost 30 years.

The Rest of the Plaza

Only the anchor's closure has been announced. Local reporting calls the center the Kings Shopping Plaza, and the landlord's leasing material calls it The Whitehouse Mall, at the corner of Route 22 and Route 523. The landlord's tenant roster from this summer lists these businesses alongside Kings:

• Food and coffee: Starbucks, Jersey Mike's, Playa Bowls, Bagel Junction, Bensi Restaurant
• Errands: The UPS Store, a dry cleaner, Darrow's Sporting Edge, Furrylicious Puppy Boutique
• Appointments: Club Pilates, ProCare Rehab, Whitehouse Dental, Sunny Nails & Spa

None of these were reported as closing in the coverage of the Kings announcement.

Bishop's Has Been Here Longer Than Kings

Bishop's Supermarket tells its own history on its Our Story page. Ray Dillon and Ed Seigfried ran a small market on Main Street in Whitehouse Station starting in the 1930s. Bill Bishop was working at Acme in the mid-1950s when he heard there was a chance to buy into that market. In 1954, Floyd and William Bishop and Bob Dillon bought out the original partners.

"It was really a general store back then," Bill Bishop recalled, in a quote on the store's own site.

By that account, the Bishop family's run is 72 years old and the market itself goes back almost a century. Kings' almost 30 years on Route 22 all happened while Bishop's was already in town. The store describes itself as a family business "taking calculated risks against large chain competitors."

On the practical side, Bishop's posts hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., except Sundays, when it's open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its website highlights home-cooked prepared foods and catering, plus a liquor store. Its history page also mentions a larger meat counter at the Route 22 location. For anyone who used Kings for a weeknight dinner or a party platter, those are the departments to try first. No Bishop's announcement about expanding or responding to the Kings closure has been reported as of this writing.

The Supermarkets Beyond Readington

The other full supermarkets confirmed nearby are all outside Readington. Most are east along the Route 22 and Route 202 corridor in Somerset County, and two are south in Flemington. Hours below come from each store's official page as of October 2026. Store hours change, so check before a late-night run.

Shoppers attached to the Kings brand have one obvious option. Kings' own store locator puts the Bedminster store 6.82 miles from the Whitehouse Station location. Bedminster wasn't part of the closure announcement. Its listing on Kings' site is still active with posted hours. Leaving it off this round of closures doesn't promise anything about future decisions, though.

The ShopRite on Route 22 in Branchburg is the one that stays on the same highway as the Kings. Wegmans has the longest posted hours on the list, open until midnight every day. For households in the southern part of Readington, Route 202 heads to Flemington, where there's both a ShopRite and a Stop & Shop.

The Specialty Stops in Between

Two Hunterdon food sources can cover what a supermarket swap might leave out.

Vacchiano Farm runs a farmhouse store at 803 Route 202 in Readington. It sells meats, farm produce, prepared foods, specialty items, and baked goods. The farm's website advertises outdoor sandwiches, salads, and hot dishes for spring, summer, and fall, but it doesn't post winter hours. After November, call or check the site before you drive over.

The Hunterdon Community Farmers Market sets up at Historic Dvoor Farm, 111 Mine Street, Flemington. It runs Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through November. Then it moves to a short winter schedule from 10 a.m. to noon on December 6, 13, and 20. Those three Sundays come right before the Kings deadline. That makes the market a natural place to pick up holiday produce and baked goods while the local grocery routine changes.

What Hasn't Been Announced

No one has said what will replace Kings. According to the Hunterdon Review, Albertsons has no information about what company or type of business will take the space. The landlord, Whitehouse Mall LLC, is marketing the center to prospective tenants without naming a successor. As of mid-October, no comment from Readington Township officials about the space had appeared in local reporting.

Once Kings closes, the Whitehouse Station supermarket on this list is Bishop's, and the market it grew out of on Main Street has been feeding the town since the 1930s.

I'm keeping an eye on what happens to the Kings space on Route 22, and if you have questions about how changes in Readington's commercial corridor affect your corner of Hunterdon County, I'm glad to talk them through. Beverly Yoson is based right here in Flemington. Let's connect.