As tough it was to see it go, it was troubled with decades of decline in a highly competitive market. A&P's biggest mistake was purchasing Pathmark for a large figure ($655 million) in a time when it was shrinking its footprint in "non-core" markets like New Orleans or Detroit, burning any cash from the acquisition.
The seeds of A&P's decline were sewn a long time ago--the made many missteps starting in the 50s and when they finally shed unprofitable markets and took over successful chains they ran them into the ground by replacing local management with numbskulls from HQ. It's sad, but it's been a decades long decline.
I guess it's officially time to play tAPs for them :)
P.S. - I know somewhere the question of what might happen to any leftover America's Choice items was asked, and don't remember where. I happened to spot about 10 cases of pasta sauces at the Ocean State Job Lots here in Valatie (NY) today - didn't see anything else but then again I wasn't really looking for it.
For years A&P answer to many of their problems was to come up with a catchy new slogans and or catchy new names like Superfresh in Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington/Richmond Markets, Save-A-Cerner in New Orleans or covering all the A&P stores in in Long Island the outer boroughs to Waldbaums which amounted to a new coat of pant on the same stores opposed to addressing their real problems and puttng that same money into making A&P stores more customer friendly, giving better value and more appealing to the public.
According to their Wikipedia article, they still have 17 liquor stores in operation. Their fate remains undecided. Probably wishful thinking, but I wonder if they can stay around just operating those.
The liquor stores are probably tied up in a labrynth of different local laws and local licensing issues since the laws vary so widely by state and local government. That said, I wonder how these are being provisioned and managed. I bet there could be a lot of "missing" items from these if the accounting and inventory is not maintained.
I grew up with A&P in Atlanta in the 90's and remember how they became one of the largest in the metro area - when they bought Big Star from Grand Union, only to shrink rapidly by the time it exited in 1999. They had some nice stores - a few Futurestores, brand new Foodmarket stores and stores from the Big Star acquisition. Most were either remodeled to the late 90's Food Market decor or had the green 90's Fresh decor (some had the same decor, but in red)
A&P Wine & Spirits including A&P Warehouse Liquors in Metuchen is still open for business. At least for the first quarter of 2016. Here are some pictures most of which I shot today. https://flickr.com/photos/31660989@N05/sets/72157659576277373
Updates on the Wakefern-purchased stores from Food World:
"Fourteen of those stores are former A&P and Pathmark units acquired during the recent A&P auction. Those supermarkets (all ShopRites unless otherwise noted) are located in: College Point, NY (to be owned by Glass Gardens- scheduled to open on December 15); Veterans Road, Staten Island (Mannix-scheduled to open January 16); Lagrangeville, NY (SRS – scheduled to open March 16): Aramingo Ave., Philadelphia, PA (Ammons – scheduled to open March 16 as a member-owned PriceRite); Wyncote, PA (Brown’s – scheduled to open March 16 as a member owned Fresh Grocer); Upper Darby, PA (scheduled to open March 16 as a Pat Burns’ owned Fresh Grocer); Brookhaven (scheduled to open March 16 as a Pat Burns’ owned Fresh Grocer); Glenolden, PA (Collins –scheduled to open March 16); Monument Ave, Philadelphia, PA (Brown’s – scheduled to open March 16 as a member owned Fresh Grocer); Bethpage, NY (Food Parade – scheduled to open March 16); New Hyde Park, NY (Food Parade – scheduled to open March 16); Deer Park, NY (Thompson – scheduled to open March 16); West Oregon Ave., Philadelphia, PA (Colligas – scheduled to open April 16) and Danbury, CT (Grade A- scheduled to open in the spring of 2016).”
I’m surprised to see that they’re putting a PriceRite right down the road from a ShopRite on Aramingo.
They're really going strong with 'The Fresh Grocer' banner too...I didn't really think Wakefern had plans to do much with it. Wyncote is a surprise, as it's less than 2 miles from a ShopRite store...I wonder how they are going to differentiate themselves.
I guess the question is, are they trying to be different or is this just a way of keeping others from taking over the space as competition? It reminds me of having read about Weis in PA, where they opened a new store and made the old one Big Top (just another name they used) basically to keep someone else from being able to open in that area.
It looks like they’re trying to establish the Fresh Grocer flag as an more urban banner perhaps to fill in the hole left by Pathmark which had a large presence in urban areas.
Fresh Grocer was a miserable failure in New Brunswick. Now Key Food, which has its own history of failure in NJ, has taken a chance on that location. We'll see how it works out... they definitely have an uphill battle.
Sad to see them go. Practically the whole family worked for them. Aunts, uncles, my parents met while working there. I worked there for ten years (anyone remember WEO and A-Mart?). Shame, but they dug their own grave with stupidity....
So sad to see such an amazing company go.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. A&P
ReplyDelete1859-2015
As tough it was to see it go, it was troubled with decades of decline in a highly competitive market. A&P's biggest mistake was purchasing Pathmark for a large figure ($655 million) in a time when it was shrinking its footprint in "non-core" markets like New Orleans or Detroit, burning any cash from the acquisition.
ReplyDeleteThe seeds of A&P's decline were sewn a long time ago--the made many missteps starting in the 50s and when they finally shed unprofitable markets and took over successful chains they ran them into the ground by replacing local management with numbskulls from HQ. It's sad, but it's been a decades long decline.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's officially time to play tAPs for them :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. - I know somewhere the question of what might happen to any leftover America's Choice items was asked, and don't remember where.
I happened to spot about 10 cases of pasta sauces at the Ocean State Job Lots here in Valatie (NY) today - didn't see anything else but then again I wasn't really looking for it.
I wonder why they don't just shut down the websites altogether. What's the point of having the empty shell of a webpage with no information on it?
ReplyDeleteMaybe something to do with trying to sell the brands? Where if they shut them down someone else could take control of the names.
DeleteFor years A&P answer to many of their problems was to come up with a catchy new slogans and or catchy new names like Superfresh in Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington/Richmond Markets, Save-A-Cerner in New Orleans or covering all the A&P stores in in Long Island the outer boroughs to Waldbaums which amounted to a new coat of pant on the same stores opposed to addressing their real problems and puttng that same money into making A&P stores more customer friendly, giving better value and more appealing to the public.
ReplyDeleteAccording to their Wikipedia article, they still have 17 liquor stores in operation. Their fate remains undecided. Probably wishful thinking, but I wonder if they can stay around just operating those.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, the store locator still shows them!
Deletehttp://bestcellars.apsupermarket.com/storelocator
They're extremely profitable, from what I read, so maybe that's what they'll do.
DeleteThe liquor stores are probably tied up in a labrynth of different local laws and local licensing issues since the laws vary so widely by state and local government.
DeleteThat said, I wonder how these are being provisioned and managed. I bet there could be a lot of "missing" items from these if the accounting and inventory is not maintained.
Many of A&P's liquor stores are former pre centennial A&P locations and in the case of Westwood it shares a Centennial A&P building with Trader Joe's.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with A&P in Atlanta in the 90's and remember how they became one of the largest in the metro area - when they bought Big Star from Grand Union, only to shrink rapidly by the time it exited in 1999. They had some nice stores - a few Futurestores, brand new Foodmarket stores and stores from the Big Star acquisition. Most were either remodeled to the late 90's Food Market decor or had the green 90's Fresh decor (some had the same decor, but in red)
ReplyDeleteA&P Wine & Spirits including A&P Warehouse Liquors in Metuchen is still open for business. At least for the first quarter of 2016.
ReplyDeleteHere are some pictures most of which I shot today. https://flickr.com/photos/31660989@N05/sets/72157659576277373
Updates on the Wakefern-purchased stores from Food World:
ReplyDelete"Fourteen of those stores are former A&P and Pathmark units acquired during the recent A&P auction. Those supermarkets (all ShopRites unless otherwise noted) are located in: College Point, NY (to be owned by Glass Gardens- scheduled to open on December 15); Veterans Road, Staten Island (Mannix-scheduled to open January 16); Lagrangeville, NY (SRS – scheduled to open March 16): Aramingo Ave., Philadelphia, PA (Ammons – scheduled to open March 16 as a member-owned PriceRite); Wyncote, PA (Brown’s – scheduled to open March 16 as a member owned Fresh Grocer); Upper Darby, PA (scheduled to open March 16 as a Pat Burns’ owned Fresh Grocer); Brookhaven (scheduled to open March 16 as a Pat Burns’ owned Fresh Grocer); Glenolden, PA (Collins –scheduled to open March 16); Monument Ave, Philadelphia, PA (Brown’s – scheduled to open March 16 as a member owned Fresh Grocer); Bethpage, NY (Food Parade – scheduled to open March 16); New Hyde Park, NY (Food Parade – scheduled to open March 16); Deer Park, NY (Thompson – scheduled to open March 16); West Oregon Ave., Philadelphia, PA (Colligas – scheduled to open April 16) and Danbury, CT (Grade A- scheduled to open in the spring of 2016).”
I’m surprised to see that they’re putting a PriceRite right down the road from a ShopRite on Aramingo.
They're really going strong with 'The Fresh Grocer' banner too...I didn't really think Wakefern had plans to do much with it. Wyncote is a surprise, as it's less than 2 miles from a ShopRite store...I wonder how they are going to differentiate themselves.
DeleteI guess the question is, are they trying to be different or is this just a way of keeping others from taking over the space as competition? It reminds me of having read about Weis in PA, where they opened a new store and made the old one Big Top (just another name they used) basically to keep someone else from being able to open in that area.
DeleteIt looks like they’re trying to establish the Fresh Grocer flag as an more urban banner perhaps to fill in the hole left by Pathmark which had a large presence in urban areas.
DeleteFresh Grocer was a miserable failure in New Brunswick. Now Key Food, which has its own history of failure in NJ, has taken a chance on that location. We'll see how it works out... they definitely have an uphill battle.
DeleteSad to see them go. Practically the whole family worked for them. Aunts, uncles, my parents met while working there. I worked there for ten years (anyone remember WEO and A-Mart?). Shame, but they dug their own grave with stupidity....
ReplyDeleteThe A&P websites are down now.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing left is the A&P corporate site
Delete