Nostalgic Retail Series #5 - A&P
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, started as a mail order business around 1859.
By 1920, there were 4,500 stores; by 1930, 15,000. In 1936, in Braddock, Pa., A&P opened a “supermarket.” By the 1950s, A&P was, briefly, what Walmart is now, the nation’s largest retailer, with a 75 percent share of America’s grocery business (sounds like a grocery monopoly to me!!). The chain filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and 2015, with the last store closing in 2016.
A&P became stale and never adjusted to consumer’s moving to the suburbs and their changing shopping habits. Remember, when you are #1, there is nowhere to go but down!
Its legacy: The chain created Woman’s Day magazine in the '30s to showcase recipes and ingredients available in-store. (source: Good Housekeeping)
R.I.P A&P (lots of letters…right?)
