health

Inside the Grand Reopening of ShopRite Belleville – A LoCurcio Family Market

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October 19, 2025 marked an exciting milestone for Belleville and the surrounding communities: the grand re-opening of ShopRite of Belleville, which is a part of the LoCurcio Markets family. From the first gleaming shelf to the aroma of fresh-baked goods, this isn’t just a supermarket relaunch, it’s a celebration of community, connection, and the kind of everyday experience that turns grocery shopping into something special.

The Legacy Behind the Name

The LoCurcio family has been a name local shoppers trust. Their roots in New Jersey grocery stretch decades, and their stewardship of community markets reflects a personal touch you don’t always see in big box chains. In Nutley, for instance, their ShopRite location (at 437 Franklin Avenue) has become somewhat of a local gem being praised for its fresh produce, vibrant specialty departments, and even live pizza-oven action. You can read my blog on our experience at the LoCurcio Markets ShopRite of Nutley location here.

That same dedication and attention to detail are now featured in Belleville, and it’s worth noting this is not just a takeover of shelves, it’s an infusion of a family-driven ethos into an important local hub.

Our Experience at the Grand Re-Opening

Here’s a preview of what shoppers can look forward to — and what we had the pleasure of experiencing — at the ShopRite of Belleville:

✨ Stunning produce & cheese displays
Expect freshness front and center with seasonal fruits, vegetables, and an expanded specialty cheese selection (featuring both local and international favorites). We sampled the Thumann’s pastrami and ended up buying a whole pound — the kids absolutely loved it! Dietz & Watson also had a great spread of artisan cheeses and premium meats. Jason devoured the buffalo chicken sandwiches and charcuterie cups. I adore when stores offer samples; it’s the best way for my kids to discover new favorite foods.

🍕 Live pizza, made to order
Watching a chef toss dough and bake a pie in minutes is not just fun… it’s a delicious reason to linger (and order more). The kids keep asking, “Mom, when are we going back to the supermarket with the delicious pizza?” We even saw guests ordering pumpkin pizza on our way out!

🎂 The expansive bakery
The kids loved the cake pops and were mesmerized by the beautifully decorated Halloween cakes which were spooky, colorful, and totally creative! Nick got the chocolate cake pop while Emilia chose a strawberry cake pop. I got a bite of each and boy, they were very tasty!

🍪 Seasonal décor & products
We stocked up on festive finds like holiday creamers, cookies, and LoCurcio sprinkles to get in the spirit of the season.

🥗 Prepared foods & ready-to-go meals
Perfect for busy families and professionals, the new store features a robust prepared foods section with salads, empanadas, grilled entrées, sandwiches, a hot bar, and a cold bar. Jason grabbed a sandwich while I opted for a salad to enjoy at home, both delicious!

🌼 A community-first atmosphere
From the floral and plant section to kid-friendly touches like the toy aisle and locally sourced products, the new Belleville ShopRite feels personal and welcoming, more than just a grocery trip, it’s a place to explore.

💰 Competitive pricing + value
The LoCurcio family continues their tradition of pairing specialty appeal with everyday affordability, so shoppers never have to choose between quality and savings.

The Details of LoCurcio Family Markets — Belleville

Address: 726 Washington Avenue, Belleville, NJ 07109
Instagram: @locurciomarkets
Facebook: LoCurcio Markets
Website: Their ShopRite.com profile highlights the LoCurcio family’s four-generation legacy, celebrating their deep roots in the community and commitment to making every shopping experience fresh, local, and family-focused.

Join the Celebration

If you stop by, take your time to explore, grab a slice, and share your finds — maybe it’s a gooey cheese pull, a delicious cake pop, a local product, or your favorite aisle setup… and don’t forget to tag #ShopRiteBellevilleReopening and #LoCurcioMarkets when you post on Instagram and Facebook!

Have you visited any of the LoCurcio Markets locations? (Belleville, Nutley, or Kearny)

Let me know in the comments!

Discover Organic Foods at Nature’s Food Markets in Hackettstown, New Jersey!

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Grand Opening Celebration: Mark your calendars for the grand opening on December 14th from 11 AM to 5 PM at Nature’s Food Markets in Hackettstown, NJ! The grand opening will feature live music performances, delicious free samples, and exciting raffles throughout the day! I have been shopping at Nature’s Food Markets since they opened and have been so impressed with the customer service, the food quality, and the prices. The store is easy to navigate and the customer service is exceptional!

Organic Foods: Nature’s Food Markets prides itself on offering a wide selection of organic foods. From fresh produce to pantry staples, you can trust that the products are free from harmful pesticides and chemicals, ensuring the highest quality for you and your family. I love purchasing organic strawberries, blueberries, bananas, grapes and avocados. They offer an extensive cheese section paired with local artisan products, which will make excellent additions to our holiday table.

Ready-to-Eat Meals: As a busy working mom of two, I love the variety of their ready-to-eat meals. Whether you’re looking for a quick lunch or a nutritious dinner, the prepared foods are made with wholesome ingredients and are perfect for those on-the-go moments. We often buy rotisserie chicken and one of the delicious sides. The sushi is also spectacular; it is so fresh and tasty!

Features and Amenities:

  • Coffee Shop and Juice Bar: Start your day with freshly brewed coffee or a refreshing juice from the on-site coffee shop and juice bar.
  • Hot Food Bar, Salad Bar, and Soup Bar: The hot food bar, salad bar, and soup bar are located in the deli section.
  • Specialty Departments: Discover the vitamins, natural health, and beauty departments, as well as the bakery and floral section. I’ve personally bought natural toothpaste, soaps, and shampoos to incorporate clean products into our daily routines.

Monthly and Weekly Flyers: Stay updated with the monthly and weekly produce flyer. These flyers highlight the latest promotions, seasonal produce, and special offers, ensuring you never miss out on great deals. On my reel, you can see some amazing finds! Look for the yellow tags to indicate sale items.

Location: Nature’s Food Markets is conveniently located at 7 Naughright Rd, Hackettstown, NJ 07840. Hours are Sunday 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Monday to Saturday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Social media: Check out Nature’s Food Markets on Facebook and Instagram.

Come experience the magic of Nature’s Food Markets and let me know what you purchase!

Tyger Mat Review

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I absolutely love teaching TRX. It goes along with my grit and grace personality perfectly. The grit is the strength required as your body weight produces the power, and the grace is the cardio and core moves I throw in to get your heart rate sky high.

My classes are no joke. Ask my Saturday morning regulars & they will tell you how much my TRX Fusion class kicks their…each week.

My biggest gripe with TRX is that the set-up can be confusing to a beginner as the concept of vector angles and anchor points are foreign to most.

My main cues are: “Move your feet in!” and “Move your feet out!”

They want to know “How can I make this easier?” and “How can I make this harder?”

Enter the Tyger Mat, created by James Curley an educator, personal trainer, and CSCS coach.

What is the Tyger Mat?

The Tyger Mat is 72 inches long, 26.7 inches wide and has 17 lines, 3 inches apart. The lines are etched into the mat, so nothing will remove them. The Tyger Mat grips the floor, so you can use it with any modality and it will. not. move. Alignment dots are on each line, so you can position your feet and hands accordingly.

Isn’t this mat incredible? Look at the lines and alignment notches. Notice my sweat, too.

I brought the mat into the studio for a client who would benefit from the visual cues the Tyger Mat offers. She purchased the Tyger Mat right after the class; she couldn’t believe how me telling her “Move up/down a line” made a difference; she could visually see and track her progress in the upcoming weeks. (I wrote down the exercise and what line she performed the exercise at so she doesn’t have to play around with her positioning the next class.)

The Tyger Mat is gold for TRX, yoga, and any body weight exercises you incorporate into your routine. After class I had my clients take some pictures of me using the mat (what you see on the mat is SWEAT). The visual cue the Tyger Mat provides is unparalleled to other exercise mats on the market.

I am having a come to Jesus moment here. Look at the sweat on that mat!

If you have clients that don’t know where to put their feet to grade the difficulty of the exercise, or if you want to note your progress and intensity from week to week, the Tyger Mat is for you. I also love how body alignment is considered with the alignment dots.

I have used this on my concrete floor in my garage, and on the hard wood floors in the studio with no issue. You clean your Tyger Mat with a little dish soap and a small, non-abrasive sponge. Let it dry. Once it does, put it in the fancy Tyger Mat carry bag.

Purchase the Tyger Mat through my affiliate link, and save 10% using code realmofvibes!

Be sure to visit Tyger Mat on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

You all know my integrity is everything. The Tyger Mat was gifted, but all opinions within are my own. And remember, the Booty Kicker is still $20 off and comes with a FREE Bender Ball through my affiliate link. Let me help get you in shape!

Booty Kicker Review

/ realmofvibes / 9 Comments

I am obsessed with barre workouts. I became an instructor through Barre Above, and started teaching in local studios and gyms near my home. When I was rehearsing my new choreography at home, I was using a STOOL. It made it nearly impossible to do anything involving my body weight since a stool would not be able to safely hold my body weight. 

[Affiliate links below.]

Enter the Booty Kicker.

The Booty Kicker

The Booty Kicker is an authentic, portable, foldable barre that costs $80 when you purchase through my referral link.

The Booty Kicker is made of steel with nickel plated accents, and a hinge design for folding flat. (All you have to do is remove the metal bars, and it folds flat to be stored under a bed.)

The Booty Kicker holds 3 sets of weights, has rolling wheels, and gripping feet for both hardwood and carpet floors.

The articulating Ipad holder is sold separately, but a must have if you view your barre workouts on an electronic device. (I love mine!)

My Review

The Booty Kicker took my husband one hour to assemble. The directions are clear and concise. Neither of us got frustrated or wanted to kill each other during the set-up process, so that always gives the Booty Kicker an added bonus! (Nothing is more frustrating than struggling when assembling something!)

Booty Kicker Review

The Booty Kicker is STURDY. I can do barre push ups. I can do reverse chair pose. I can put my entire body weight on the Booty Kicker and this does not move a centimeter. It doesn’t take up a lot of space. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my stories where I show you my very humble, small home. The Booty Kicker doesn’t take up a lot of space and can fold to fit in a closet should I need it to. Otherwise, I pull out the Booty Kicker from the wall, do my workout, and push it back. Perfection! It also has storage for my hand weights (awesome…they are no longer hidden in my a closet).

The final assembled size of the Booty Kicker is approximately 38″ tall, 38″ wide, and 34″ deep. When folded, it is 34″ deep, 38″ wide and 5″ tall with weight rack (3″ tall without weight rack). The wooden barre is 36″ off the floor.

Booty Kicker

I like the Ipad holder so I can adjust the arms and position my electronic device to exactly where I need it to be to perform my workouts effortlessly. You can purchase the Booty Kicker and tablet holder together here.

It is only $80 when you use my referral link, so it is really not that expensive, especially if you are an avid barre student or instructor!

I am thrilled with the Booty Kicker. It allows me to create an authentic barre workout at home that I can bring into the studio.

Do you have a Booty Kicker? Are you in the market for an at home barre? Drop a comment below and make sure you are following me on Instagram!

Namaste.

Danielle

Booty Kicker Review

Be You CBD Review & Giveaway

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One thing I didn’t try to manage my ailments was CBD oil. CBD products are everywhere in NJ. I could count on two hands the number of shops that have just opened up in neighboring towns. CBD is definitely the new big thing.

I didn’t try CBD for several reasons. The first was the stigma attached to the products. Edibles? Cookies? Gummies? What am I, back in high school and college? Rub this CBD stuff WHERE, exactly? What will it do to me?

Other reasons:

  1. the purity of the product
  2. side effects (you SAY I won’t hallucinate, but WILL I?)

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I was skeptical. I did my research. I asked Be You CBD if they needed a product reviewer because I was curious and wanted to try their products. I also wanted to promote the founders, Heidi and Jen, two California women boss babes. (For those of you that have followed Realm of Vibes, you know I love promoting women in business.)

What I wanted to relieve:

  1. stress and anxiety
  2. chronic fatigue
  3. right knee pain (on & off, chronic)
  4. neck pain (chronic for 10 years this January)
  5. rosacea
  6. postpartum hair loss 18 months later
  7. sleeping (not enough, waking up and staying up)
  8. strengthen my general immunity

When I chatted with Heidi, I shared with her some of my trials and tribulations. Guys, I am often not a peach. If you follow me on Instagram, you see in my bio alone that I don’t stop. I work almost full-time hours as an occupational therapist in geriatrics and pediatrics. I teach two barre classes a week. I have a husband who is a homicide detective and depending on the week, is rarely home. I have an almost 19-month-old daughter that is extremely active. I have two rescue dogs that also need my time and attention. I am counting down the minutes until my daughter wakes up from her nap and then this blog post will be over. I need to RELAX. I need to de-stress. I need my neck to stop feeling so much tension. I need my mind to turn off for 30 seconds. Do you feel me, readers?

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So, Be You CBD stepped in. Be You CBD partnered with a boutique farm in central Oregon that grows organic, non-GMO, pesticide-free cannabis that is non-psychoactive. (This alleviated #1 in the reasons why I didn’t to try CBD section).

Now let me review the Be You CBD products. 

Holy Grail Tincture

Holy. Moly. The active ingredients in Holy Grail Tincture include 1000 mg full spectrum Hemp CBD Oil and MCT Oil. Natural Terpenes & Phytocannabinoids swarm inside this tincture.

Holy Grail Tincture can be used to improve health and vitality. As stated on their website, Be You CBD‘s customers report they often use our tincture to help reduce inflammation, find greater relaxation and give the immune system a boost.

You start using Holy Grail Tincture by dropping 1/4 of the dropper full under your tongue. You can increase as you see fit.

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Earthy is a beautiful way to describe this tincture. Let’s be honest, it’s like liquid marijuana under your tongue, and it is absolutely delightful. What the heck was I waiting for? The smell alone puts me in a better mood!

I have been taking this for a week before bed. I would say within 15-25 minutes, I just feel a sense of calm. I. Am. Just. More. Chill. I feel a little bit lighter. I feel like I can just go to sleep without 1037937 thoughts coming into my brain.

I will definitely keep using Holy Grail Tincture.

Down Under Rub

Down Under Rub is Be You CBD‘s formula designed for muscle aches and body tension.

I love the smell of the Down Under Rub. It has very subtle hints of vanilla, and I love how it contains arnica extract and the essential oil blend, which are all great for healing.

Ingredients: Shea Budder, CocoBudder, Coconut Oil, Almond Oil, Amyris Wood Oil, Vanilla Extract, Arnica Extract,  Helichrysum Oil, Bergamot Oil, and Eucalyptus Oil.  Contains: 500mg (1 oz jar) or 850mg (1.7 oz jar) Full Spectrum Hemp CBD Oil.

Down Under Rub is what I rubbed on my right knee and on my neck. Before teaching barre class, I would rub my right knee with a generous amount of creme. It is yellow and reminds me of ghee. My knee pain has dissipated and my neck pain has definitely lessened. I think consistency is knee when using CBD products, and I will definitely be implementing Down Under Rub when I feel signs of strain or tension.

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Grumpy B*tch Balm

Period cramps are THE WORST. PMS is definitely the worst time of the month. I hate feeling like a bloated pig with an attitude problem.

Grumpy B*tch Balm contains the ingredients of the Down Under Rub, except for Eucalyptus oil.

I rubbed Grumpy B*tch Balm on my abdomen for cramps, my neck, my knee, and my temples to relieve a nasty headache I had from one of my daughter’s tantrums.

Again, love the smell and texture of Grumpy B*tch Balm and Down Under Rub. I will definitely continue to use these products on my journey of health and wellness.

Be You CBD also sells Be You Face Serum to help combat fine lines, skin irritations, rosacea, acne, and dry skin. Be You Face Serum can be worn under your makeup and for moisturizing overnight.

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Bottom Line

Since using Be You CBD, my knee pain has dissipated,  and my neck pain has lessened.

I am definitely more zen.

I feel less anxious and that I can go to sleep with a lighter mind.

PLEASE USE CODE “Powerful!” at checkout on Be You CBD to let Heidi and Jen know I sent you! And now…

The GIVEAWAY!

Win a Grumpy B*tch Balm and Down Under Rub from Be You CBD!

  1. Follow ME and Be You CBD on Instagram.
  2. Save the initial giveaway post.
  3. Tag a friend in the comments. Each tag gives you an additional entry.
  4. BONUS: Share the initial post to your stories. You can do this once every 24 hours to gain an extra entry. Don’t forget to tag @realmofvibes and @beyoucbd for your bonus entry to count.

Rules: All entries must occur from the date and time of the initial giveaway post until 11:59AM on January 15, 2020. Winner will be announced in the comments section, via IG Story, and informed via direct message. One winner only. The winner has 24 hours to respond with full name and address or another winner will be chosen. USA residents only. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram. 

Products from Be You CBD were received complimentary for testing and review purposes. All opinions within are my own.