When a national restaurant chain decides to test a new market, the usual move is to open where the numbers are already proven: a big media market, a flagship mall, a corridor with a decade of foot-traffic data behind it. That's not what's happening on Cedar Bridge Avenue.
In the span of about a year, three different companies have chosen Brick Plaza, an unassuming shopping center most residents know for Trader Joe's runs and Saturday matinees at the AMC, as the place to open their first location in an entire market. Not their newest location. Their first. That's an unusual pattern for a strip mall that spent years being defined by an empty pad site nobody wanted.
The Empty Pad Site That Waited Five Years
For half a decade, the back corner of Brick Plaza held an 8,148-square-foot building that used to be Quaker Steak & Lube, sitting vacant since the restaurant closed during the pandemic era. Empty pad sites at busy shopping centers are usually a sign something is wrong with the economics of the location. This one just sat there, a gap in an otherwise busy plaza.
That gap is finally closing. Raising Cane's has plans to tear down the old building entirely and put up a new 3,333-square-foot restaurant with drive-thru lanes at 1036 Cedar Bridge Ave, and the company has told NJBIZ it expects to open by late 2026, pending local approval and permitting. What makes this notable isn't just that a popular chicken chain is finally filling a stubborn vacancy. It's that this will be Raising Cane's first Jersey Shore location, full stop. Out of every shore town between Sandy Hook and Cape May, Brick got picked to go first.
A First for Dae Gee, Already Open
While Cane's construction works through approvals, another first has already landed. Dae Gee Korean BBQ, a chain with roots in Colorado and locations scattered across Texas, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, opened its first New Jersey location at Brick Plaza. Not its first Ocean County location. Its first location in the entire state.
That's a meaningful detail for anyone who's watched national chains expand into New Jersey before. Companies usually cut their teeth somewhere with denser population numbers first, often North Jersey or a major highway corridor near Newark or Philadelphia. Dae Gee skipped that step and came straight to a shopping center off Cedar Bridge Avenue.
Coffee With a Drive-Thru Nobody Expected
The third first is smaller in square footage but arguably the strangest choice on paper. Gregorys Coffee is opening next to Cava at Brick Plaza, and it will be the brand's first location in Ocean County. What's unusual isn't the coffee. It's the format. Gregorys is building a drive-thru, a feature that's genuinely rare for a coffee brand positioned above the convenience-store tier. Higher-end coffee concepts tend to bet on walk-in traffic and lingering customers, not lane queues.
A drive-thru at a coffee brand's debut location in a county says something about how the company is reading Brick's daily commute patterns, specifically the volume of cars moving along Cedar Bridge Avenue at the center of everything in town.
Federal Realty, the shopping center's owner, has been fairly direct about the strategy behind these additions. Shorebeat reported that Jeffrey Fischer, the company's VP of Leasing, described the lineup this way:
"We're also introducing exciting food and dining concepts that will strengthen the plaza's position as a family-friendly destination, such as Raising Cane's, Cuzin's Seafood, Dae Gee Korean BBQ."
Why Brick, Specifically
None of this happens in a vacuum. Brick Plaza already carries a tenant list that reads like a checklist of anchors that keep shopping centers alive in the Amazon era: Trader Joe's, Barnes & Noble, AMC Theatres, PetSmart, Michaels, Chipotle, Applebee's, Ulta Beauty, and Crumbl Cookies among them. That existing draw, combined with the plaza's position right off Cedar Bridge Avenue near Routes 70 and 88, gives corporate real estate teams a reason to treat Brick as a low-risk proving ground rather than a leap of faith.
Brick also sits within easy reach of Point Pleasant, Toms River, Wall, and Lakewood, so a debut location here can serve residents beyond Brick.
Here's how the current wave of additions breaks down as of this month:
| Business | What's a first here | Status as of September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Dae Gee Korean BBQ | First New Jersey location | Open |
| Gregorys Coffee | First Ocean County location, with a drive-thru | Under construction, targeting 2026 |
| Raising Cane's | First Jersey Shore location | Pending local approval and permitting, targeting late 2026 |
| Cuzin's Seafood & Clam Bar | Third New Jersey location, first at the plaza | Under construction, 2026 |
| J.Crew Factory / GAP Factory | New retail additions to the fashion mix | Opening 2026 |
What's Actually Open Right Now
If you've driven past the plaza recently and noticed construction fencing near the old Mexican restaurant space, that's Cuzin's Seafood & Clam Bar moving in. The chain, which has been serving seafood since 2016 out of Marlboro and New Brunswick, is transforming that site into its third New Jersey location and its first shore-facing one. Construction equipment has already been on site as the transformation continues, though no exact opening date has been set.
Meanwhile, the retail side of the plaza is filling in around the food additions. J.Crew Factory and GAP Factory are both moving into the shopping center this year, giving the fashion mix a boost that Federal Realty has been fairly open about wanting.
So if you're a Brick resident wondering why the plaza suddenly feels like it's under a permanent construction crew, that's the answer. This isn't one restaurant swap. Brick Plaza is adding several food and retail businesses.
For residents, that means the next several months are worth watching closely. Dae Gee is already open for anyone curious what a Colorado-born Korean BBQ chain does with its New Jersey debut. Cuzin's is moving toward a 2026 opening, while Raising Cane's is targeting late 2026 pending local approval and permitting; both will change what's available along Cedar Bridge Avenue without a drive to Point Pleasant or Toms River. And Gregorys Coffee's drive-thru bet will tell us something about how this stretch of Ocean County actually moves in the morning.
Brick has always been the kind of town where daily life runs through familiar corners rather than a single downtown strip. Cedar Bridge Avenue has quietly become one of those corners, and for the first time in a while, it's Brick that other towns are watching.
If you're curious about what this kind of investment and energy means for property values or timing in Brick Township, Samantha Vallone Verwey keeps a close eye on these shifts as they happen, not after the fact. Let's Get You Home.
