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CLIFTON — Stew Leonard’s, a popular regional supermarket chain, is looking to expand its footprint in the city with a low-cost swim school in honor of the founder’s grandson who drowned as a toddler.
Dubbed the “Disneyland of grocery stores,” Stew Leonard’s opened its Styertowne Shopping Center location, the second in New Jersey, last May.
The company will appear before the city’s zoning board next week to seek approval to open its second Stewie the Duck Swim School, on Bloomfield Avenue at the former Lucille Roberts Health Club.
The swim school is part of Stew Leonard’s charitable arm, the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation, which was founded by the family-run, Connecticut-based corporation after the drowning of 21-month-old Stew Leonard III in 1989.
The first Stewie the Duck Swim School was opened in 2023 in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Drowning is a leading cause of death for children 4 years old and under, but those who receive swim lessons are 88% less likely to drown, the foundation’s website notes.
“Losing my brother Stewie in a drowning accident 36 years ago changed everything for our family,” said Ryann Leonard, executive director of the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation and daughter of the chain’s CEO, Stew Leonard Jr. “We made a vow to help other families avoid that heartbreak.”
The opening of the second swim school feels personal, Ryann Leonard said. The school will charge for membership and for the swim lessons, but the profits are donated to local learn-to-swim programs.
“Every child deserves the chance to learn to swim,” she said.
The foundation supports swimming programs at the Boys & Girls Club of Clifton, Miss Yvonne Swim School, Montclair YMCA, Raritan Valley YMCA, St. Benedict’s Prep School, Wayne YMCA, Wyckoff YMCA and YMCA of Ridgewood, officials said.
“I know the foundation hopes to support even more swim lessons for kids in New Jersey if the Clifton swim school gets the green light,” said Ryann Leonard, who lives in New Jersey with her family.
The swim club is before the zoning board to gain permission to turn the shuttered Lucille Roberts Health Club into a swim school, which is not a permitted use of the property, city officials said.
The foundation wants to construct the pool at one end of the shopping mall, which also houses a Sherwin-Williams Paint store and a Michael’s crafts store.
The applicant’s attorney, Andrew S. Kohut, of Paramus’ Wells, Jaworski & Liebman law firm, said the foundation is addressing concerns about the capacity of the local sewer line.
The applicant, Kohut said, recognizes that there are capacity limitations on the property’s sewer service. The plan is to install a special system that will slow the discharge into the system, he said.
“This will allow for a drawdown at a rate that can be handled by the sanitary sewer system,” Kohut wrote in the application to the board.
The pool, to be on the mall’s side closest to Route 3, will be about 75 feet long, with showers and private and family changing rooms.
The location in Norwalk, Connecticut, charges a $25 membership per family per year, $30 for group lessons and more for private ones.
