The Wiz is on road to Manalapan Epicentre

MANALAPAN — Can anybody beat The Wiz? Residents in Western Mon-mouth County will soon find out with news this week that the Nobody Beats the Wiz electronics chain will be opening a store at the Epicentre, Route 9 and Symmes Drive.

Douglas Steiner, a principal in Steiner Equities, the North Jersey builder developing the Epicentre, confirmed to the News Transcript that The Wiz will be opening as an anchor store at the new retail center.

The presence of the Wiz should add a bit of a spark to the local electronics competition with Circuit City, in the Pond Road Shopping Center on Route 9, Free-hold Township, less than a mile away.

At present, a Value City department store and an Applebee’s restaurant are open for business at the Epicentre. The other confirmed anchor store at the 400,000-square-foot shopping center is Wegmans, a Rochester, N.Y., based supermarket chain.

During much of 1999, Steiner had to wage a yearlong battle with Foodarama and Grand Union supermarkets in order to bring Wegmans to the Epicentre. The approval for Wegmans that was granted by the Manalapan Planning Board is currently being challenged by the opposition in state court.

Steiner previously told the News Transcript that the court challenge will not delay the construction of the Weg-mans supermarket.

He said work at the Epicentre will resume in the near future. The developer said there has been a recent lull in activity as he secures all of the final permits required. Steiner said once all the details of the Planning Board approval have been satisfied, construction will resume.

"Believe me, I’m more anxious than the residents to get this thing done," Steiner said.