ShopRite of 1st State Plaza Debuts EVgo Fast-Charging Station

The ShopRite of 1st State Plaza, owned by Wakefern Food Corp. member Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 24 to mark the recent opening of the store’s electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging station at 1600 West Newport Pike in Wilmington, Del. Installed by EVgo Inc., the station consists of four stalls with two 100 kilowatt-hour fast chargers and one high-power 350 kilowatt-hour fast charger capable of simultaneously charging two vehicles. The charging station can be used by store customers, people in the community and motorists in the First State Plaza shopping mall. This latest launch furthers Wakefern’s goal of bringing more public charging stations to communities served by ShopRite stores.

“We are excited to bring this new charging station to our ShopRite customers and electric vehicle drivers, and they are using it on a regular basis,” said Melissa Kenny, of Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware. “Our Wilmington store is a great location for this much-needed infrastructure because it sits along Newport Pike in a busy shopping center with several other tenants, including the post office and cinema, making it more convenient and accessible for shoppers with EVs.”

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Joining Melissa Kenny at the event were store associates, guests and community leaders, including U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

“The investments we make in charging infrastructure today are going to be critical in the years ahead as more and more Americans make the shift to electric vehicles,” said Carper, who is chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “I am grateful to everyone at ShopRite for taking this important step in helping our environment.”

According to another event attendee, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, the EVgo charging station at ShopRite is an important complement to the county’s 100 EV Plugs Plan, which aims to make more than 100 EV charging plugs available to the public.

“EVgo builds charging stations in convenient locations where drivers can plug in their EV while completing everyday activities, like shopping or going to the grocery store,” noted Marcy Bauer, SVP of deployment at Los Angeles-based EVgo. “As more drivers transition to EVs, EVgo is excited to expand partnerships with site hosts like Wakefern to meet the growing demand for public fast charging.”

Meanwhile, Wakefern’s real estate department is working with co-op members and stores to identify more locations for possible charging stations.

“Wakefern’s electric vehicle-charging initiative is important to the cooperative and our supermarket banners,” said Andrew Pittel, manager of real estate at Wakefern, who oversees the EV charging initiative for the cooperative. “We are collaborating with EV-charging providers to bring this critical infrastructure to our stores and communities, because we know building a bigger and better EV public charging network encourages more drivers to go electric.”

Kenny Family ShopRites stores already employ energy-efficient lighting and refrigerated cases, and have programs in place to maximize recycling and reduce waste and water usage at retail. The company was also one of the first retailers in Delaware to join the federal Food Recovery Challenge, more than a decade ago, with a focus on fresh food donations to area food banks and composting at retail to reduce waste headed to landfills. Its stores also work with local farms and Keep Delaware Beautiful, a chapter of Keep America Beautiful.

EVgo fast-charging stations are compatible with all fast-charge capable EV models currently in operation. EV drivers can easily begin a fast-charging session on the network with the EVgo app, EVgo program card (RFID card), EVgo Autocharge+ or credit card.

Wilmington-based Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware operates six locations in the state: ShopRite of 1st State Plaza, ShopRite of Brandywine, ShopRite of Christina Crossing, ShopRite of Four Seasons Plaza, ShopRite of Governor’s Square and ShopRite of Newark.

Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern is the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative. The company comprises more than 40 members, including Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware, that independently own and operate 360-plus supermarkets. Wakefern is No. 29 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 listing of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.