Back in September of 2016, it was first reported that Royal Farms was coming to Marlton. A new shopping center called Sunbird Plaza would be built next door to Target and would contain Royal Farms.
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| Blue box shows location of proposed Sunbird Plaza containing Royal Farms, with Target just to the north and Outback Steakhouse just south. |
The plans, shown below, are from RD Management, the same property management company currently managing Renaissance Square.
Aside from the old Scatturo's further deteriorating, nothing has happened at the site since the project was announced. It was reported by Mayor Brown at the August 2017 town council meeting that the Royal Farms was still trying to get a light with a left turn lane on Route 73 North at Sunbird Drive. Ironically, just prior to the discussion of the Royal Farms at that council meeting, completely unrelated, the State Department of Transportation gave a presentation on their plans to do a traffic study for the Route 70 and 73 intersection and surrounding area. At the time of the DOT presentation, I noted the following in my blog: "The major change is widening 73 one additional lane in each direct from the Route 70 intersection to Ardsley Drive (where Target is located)". Royal Farms was attempting to get a new traffic light one block past Ardsley Drive, precisely where 73 would be changing from 3 lanes into 2. This would have the effect of slowing down traffic that the state is currently studying to try to speed up.
As far as I know, there have been no further developments since that time and Sunbird Plaza remains on the drawing board only. I spoke with the head of Regional Site Selection of Royal Farms at the Planning Board meeting on April 5, 2018, and he confirms that Royal Farms is still trying to build the store. The state has required additional site modifications and they are still attempting to get the left turn signal at Sunbird Drive. He was hopeful they would be able to build that store at some point in the future.
(On a side note, I recently found architectural plans for an addition to Scaturro's. As the property has been sold and Scaturro's closed, this will obviously never happen. File it under 'what might have been'.)
With the Sunbird Plaza project at the old Scaturro's apparently stalled, it would appear that Royal Farms has found a different (additional?) location for one of their stores, right next to the Marlton 8 movie theater.
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| Note the proposed traffic signal at Sunbird Drive and Route 73 |
Aside from the old Scatturo's further deteriorating, nothing has happened at the site since the project was announced. It was reported by Mayor Brown at the August 2017 town council meeting that the Royal Farms was still trying to get a light with a left turn lane on Route 73 North at Sunbird Drive. Ironically, just prior to the discussion of the Royal Farms at that council meeting, completely unrelated, the State Department of Transportation gave a presentation on their plans to do a traffic study for the Route 70 and 73 intersection and surrounding area. At the time of the DOT presentation, I noted the following in my blog: "The major change is widening 73 one additional lane in each direct from the Route 70 intersection to Ardsley Drive (where Target is located)". Royal Farms was attempting to get a new traffic light one block past Ardsley Drive, precisely where 73 would be changing from 3 lanes into 2. This would have the effect of slowing down traffic that the state is currently studying to try to speed up.
As far as I know, there have been no further developments since that time and Sunbird Plaza remains on the drawing board only. I spoke with the head of Regional Site Selection of Royal Farms at the Planning Board meeting on April 5, 2018, and he confirms that Royal Farms is still trying to build the store. The state has required additional site modifications and they are still attempting to get the left turn signal at Sunbird Drive. He was hopeful they would be able to build that store at some point in the future.
(On a side note, I recently found architectural plans for an addition to Scaturro's. As the property has been sold and Scaturro's closed, this will obviously never happen. File it under 'what might have been'.)
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| To the right is the existing building that used to house the restaurant |
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| Back of the proposed addition to Scaturro's |
With the Sunbird Plaza project at the old Scaturro's apparently stalled, it would appear that Royal Farms has found a different (additional?) location for one of their stores, right next to the Marlton 8 movie theater.
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| Proposed location of Royal Farms indicated by arrow, just south of Marlton 8 Theater |
On April 5, 2018, the Evesham Township Planning Board gave approval to resolution PB17-13 to authorize demolition of the existing building and construction of a Royal Farms by a vote of 9-0. The store will be 5,371 square feet, have 8 gas pumps and 53 parking spaces*. There will be an entrance from Route 73, the existing entrance from Lincoln Drive, and the existing cut through into the AMC Marlton 8 parking lot.
Currently the site is home to Firstrust Bank and a few small medical offices.
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| Firstrust Bank would be demolished |
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| Firstrust Bank, with the Marlton 8 in the background |
Many of us living in this area have grown up on Wawa. During the 70s and 80s, the area had plenty of 7-11 and a few Cumberland Farms. But when Wawa came to town, they took over - there are no longer any Cumberland Farms in the area and there are far fewer 7-11. In the past decade or so, Wawa has started building their mega-stores, with larger interiors and gas pumps. Royal Farms is structured much the same way as the larger Wawas, but there are some differences.
I took a trip out to the Royal Farms in Magnolia to check it out. I have not included any pictures from Wawa in the comparisons below, as I think we all know what a Wawa looks like. (And if you don't know what the inside of a Wawa looks like, you probably aren't interested in Royal Farms coming to town anyway.)
First, what is the same? They both offer freshly brewed coffee in many different varieties.
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| Numerous different flavors of fresh brewed coffee |
They both have gas pumps outside.
They both have touch screen computers to order your lunch, and their breakfast sandwiches appear very similar (with the addition of a chicken breakfast sandwich at Royal Farms, as well as a scrapple sandwich.) They both have pre-packaged 'Grab n Go' sandwiches and salads.
But there were quite a few differences. At Royal Farms, you can see you can get a cheeseburger, sliders, pulled chicken sandwiches, and obviously they are famous for their fried chicken. (In fact, the smell of fried chicken will hit you long before you step in the store.)
This particular Royal Farms had public bathrooms. I'm not sure if they all do, and I'm pretty sure that not all Wawa's do.
Royal Farms also has public seating, both inside and out, that I've never seen at a Wawa.
But it doesn't appear there are as many options to tailor make a hoagie to your liking.
While you can customize it through options on the screen much like Wawa, adding lettuce, tomato, condiments and spices, or having it toasted, I don't see an option to order a Roast Beef Hoagie anywhere! Wawa has additional lunchmeat choices that Royal Farms lacks, plus pananis, burritos, quesadillas and flatbreads.
Whether you are a Wawa loyalist or looking forward to Royal Farms coming, competition is always good.
*Originally this was listed as 55 spaces, corrected to 53 on 4/7/2018 at 8:00am
Note: This was the first Planning Board meeting I ever attended and it was long, almost 4.5 hours. There was a lot of technical and in depth information on traffic studies, parking spaces, fumes, and trucks. There were quite a few variances that were needed regarding size of signs, type of light bulbs, location of loading zones, etc. There were also about a dozen residents of the nearby Orchards who weren't properly notified about this meeting (the town acknowledged this was their fault) and came to voice their objections to the plan. I hope to produce another blog post at some point in the future to discuss all these details, once I have some time to process the information and all that went on. I'm not sure how interested people are in that type of information, but in the mean time, if people have questions, I can try to answer those I have an answer for.
Update: 4/8/2018 - I have written a blog post detailing the Planning Board meeting, all the variances that Royal Farms needed, and the views of the future neighbors of Royal Farms.