Tuesday, 3 April 2012


New Jersey's A & P chain operated stores in many a mid-century American shopping mall. 
Graphic from The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company


A circa-1880 A & P store. The grocer debuted in 1859, under the heading of Gilman & Company. A name change, to the Great American Tea Company, was done in 1863. This morphed into the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company in 1869. In 1915, there were 16 hundred locations. By 1930, 16 thousand were in operation. During the 1950s, A & P entered a downward spiral, soon relinquishing its position as America's largest grocery chain. On November 25, 2015, the once-mighty grocer went out of business.
Photo from Wikipedia / Grubbxdn"


An example of a mall-based A & P. This location opened, as part of Muscle Shoals, Alabama's SOUTHGATE MALL, in August 1968. The original complex also housed a Winn-Dixie supermarket. 

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