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Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 12:57
by trainman
Max wrote:The A&P in New Providence, NJ has been expanded considerably since it was a Centennial. In fact, the only way one can even tell that it was ever a Centennial would be to look at an aerial view of the store and see the "original" section of the building (along with the expansion).
My grandparents used to live near this store. I remember it being under the Sav-a-Center name in the '90s. Can't recall what the interior looked like.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 19:18
by Jared
RoleModel wrote:
Jared wrote:In holbrook ny, there is an OLD ap that operates under its waldbuams banner now. This store maybe only had minor renovation work done to it. The floor is OLD and the shelfs are even older. The cases in some of the aisles look old , probably AP days as well. It's deli is up in the front of the store, which is odd. The cases out front are old and have some rust on them. Also, the sign on the shopping center is shaped just like the old AP sign that was once there.
From the last time I was in there a year or so ago, I think the only renovation they did was the facade. It looks horrible inside.

edit: My brother says that the deli was also up front right next to Customer Service in the Southampton Waldbaum's, also a former A&P. He hasn't been there in about five years though, so that store may have changed in the meantime (though I really doubt it - this is A&P we're talking about).
oh, it still is, and smells bad in that store too. Some of their older li locations that are now waldbuams are in bad shape.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Oct 2009 18:59
by MikeRa
Max wrote:Out of the list of locations posted above, I believe only four of them (unfortunately) still remain "100% pure" centennials: the locations in Morristown, NJ; Pluckemin, NJ; Goldens Bridge, NY; and Katowah, NY. All of the others have been altered in some way.

Some of the alterations have been minor: The Superfresh in Newark, DE simply has a long strip (of the store's sign) blocking the front of the building. The stores in Towson, MD and Stamford, CT merely had their red bricks painted white.

However, some of the alterations have been more significant: stores in Artubus, MD and Thornwood, NY now feature ugly green roofs. (The Thornwood, NY store also had its bricks painted white.) And both the A&P in New Providence, NJ and the Superfresh in Washington, DC have been considerably expanded since they first operated as pure centennial stores. (In fact, the only way I even knew the New Providence, NJ store was originally a centennial was by going to maps.live.com and looking at an aerial view of part of its roof. The front of the building certainly does not look like a centennial.)
The superfresh in Gladwyne, PA, and wynnewood, PA also had some alterations done to the original "Centennial-colonial" front of their respective stores.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 30 Oct 2009 03:33
by mrcedesboi
Picture of Katonah, NY centennial:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40515495@N08/4057888720/

Picture of Goldens Bridge, NY centennial:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40515495@N08/4057149963/

These are two of the few remaining "Pure" centennial stores unfortunately!

the store in Thornwood, NY wasn't a centennial store--it was actually a converted Pathmark (from what I was told when I worked there!) that was made into a Save-A-Center in the 80's and then remodeled and expanded in '98-99 when they turned it from a dumpy looking store into a beauty!

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 01:26
by Ephrata1966
Here are perhaps the oldest buildings left in the A&P chain, including Pathmark and more recent closures:

1. Super Fresh, Wynnewood, PA (former Centennial A&P)

2. Super Fresh, Willow Grove, PA (just closed, former Centennial A&P)

3. Super Fresh, Gladwyne, PA (former Centennial A&P)

4. Super Fresh, Newark, DE (former Centennial A&P)

5. Super Fresh, Towson, MD (just closed, former Centennial A&P)

6. Super Fresh, Arbutus, MD (former Centennial A&P)

7. Super Fresh, Washington DC (former Centennial A&P?)

8. Super Fresh, Marlton, NJ (former 1975 A&P)

9. A&P, Pluckemin, NJ (small Centennial)

10. A&P, Titusville, NJ? (just closed?, identical to Pluckemin store?)

11. A&P, French Quarter (701 Royal St.), New Orleans, LA (landmark corner store from 1920s, sold to Rouses last year)

12. A&P, Catskill, NY (just closed? I saw a half-empty building with Advance Auto Parts in the other half. The streetlights in the parking lot gave it away as a former A&P. Across the street I saw a pylon sign for a JCPenney Catalog Center but the store was gone!)

13. A&P, Margaretville, NY (closed in 2007, opened 1968, now Foodtown?)

14. A&P, New Providence, NJ (was just replaced by an A&P Fresh in a former 1968 Acme building. The original A&P opened circa 1951, was made a small Centennial circa 1959, and was expanded circa 1976.)

15. Super Fresh, Etters, PA (closed last year, former Futurestore, not one of the oldest stores in the company, but the last for miles.)

16. Pathmark, Broomall, PA (closed last month, opened as ShopRite circa 1964, converted to Pathmark 1968, was remodeled 1977 and 1993.)

17. Pathmark, Bristol, PA (closed last month, opened 1972? This closing was odd considering a Super Fresh nearby just like the Etters one closed a few years ago.)

18. Super Fresh, Wilmington, DE (former Centennial A&P, but enlarged)

19. Super Fresh, New Castle, DE (former 1976 A&P?)

20. Super Fresh, Center City, Philadelphia, PA (former 1968 A&P. Coexists with a small newer Super Fresh a few blocks away?)

21. A&P, Morristown, NJ (tiny Centennial)

22. A&P, Maplewood, NJ (closed last month, opened 1942, heavily remodeled since, was next to a Pathmark)

23. Pathmark, Randolph, NJ (closed last year. Opened circa 1964 as ShopRite? I imagine the current Brookhaven, PA store might have opened at the same time.)

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 11:05
by maynesG
Hi, I think you can ad these A@Ps in Bergen County to the list Midland Park, Fort Lee, Closter, Westwood,Midland Park, Allendale, and many others that escape my memory. All of these stores started out as Centenials but with remodeling you would be hard pressed to see it.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 11:34
by RoleModel
The Southampton, NY Waldbaums (former A&P) now apparently had the Fresh Market remodel, but still is very much a Centennial.

http://www.27east.com/food/detail.cfm/S ... upermarket

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 17:15
by Ephrata1966
What about Califon, NJ?

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 21:30
by BillyGr
Ephrata1966 wrote:Here are perhaps the oldest buildings left in the A&P chain, including Pathmark and more recent closures:
12. A&P, Catskill, NY (just closed? I saw a half-empty building with Advance Auto Parts in the other half. The streetlights in the parking lot gave it away as a former A&P. Across the street I saw a pylon sign for a JCPenney Catalog Center but the store was gone!)
This is the store on 9W where 385 comes up out of the village proper (I assume).

I don't know when it closed as an A&P (as a matter of fact, I didn't even realize it WAS an A&P) but most of the stores in this part of NY were gone in the early 1980's, so I'd guess around then.

The earliest thing I remember was a Great American there for a time (I'm thinking that was in the A&P building after A&P left, but it could have been in the building next door as well). This would make sense as at the time the only other grocery in town was ShopRite (which was across 9W, along with a Jamesway, later Ames where the WalMart plaza is now, but in a now demolished strip which ran parallel to 9W and not quite as far back as the current stores) and also there is still a Great American in Cairo (only about 8-10 mi away via Route 23).

Most recently the empty half of the A&P had been used as the showroom part of a car dealership with the auto parts store next door (convenient if they needed something to fix a car, I guess!).

The building next door (which just recently opened as Beer World) was previously an Eckerd (and Fays before that) until the Rite Aid merger (since Rite Aid already has a store the next light down 9W) and Eckerd had the JC Penney Catalog showroom when Eckerd was owned by Penneys. They may have moved the catalog part to what was a Hallmark across 9W for a short time after Rite Aid took over, if that's where the sign was.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 22:53
by Ephrata1966
Do you doubt it was an A&P?

Perhaps it closed at the same time as the Philadelphia division in 1982? Would you know when A&P left Painted Post/Corning?

The JCPenney Catalog Center was in the small plaza across the street next to Dunkin Donuts and Subway. Was that the Eckerd/Fay's?

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 00:51
by BillyGr
Ephrata1966 wrote:Do you doubt it was an A&P?
No - just that I guess we didn't go to that area as much as others, so I just don't remember it. I only vaguely remember the Great American being there, and since that was likely a later use the A&P was probably gone before I had a chance to see it.
Ephrata1966 wrote:Perhaps it closed at the same time as the Philadelphia division in 1982? Would you know when A&P left Painted Post/Corning?
No idea about that - being more on the other side of the Hudson (Albany to Hudson area) I'd say most of the stores on that side were closed by the mid 1980's, so it could have been a mass departure from the area (I seem to remember reading that they did that in quite a few areas at some point due to company wide problems).
(There were a few scattered ones that held on longer, usually in areas lacking many if any other shopping options - like the rather remote Margartville one you mentioned, several in the Adirondacks near Saranac/Tupper Lake (till right around 2000), one in Red Hook - Dutchess County (til at least the late 80's, maybe after) and one in Wynantskill (till 1997) - though this was only 5 min from other supermarkets in Troy, it wasn't until Hannaford opened across the street that it closed).
Ephrata1966 wrote:The JCPenney Catalog Center was in the small plaza across the street next to Dunkin Donuts and Subway. Was that the Eckerd/Fay's?
No, the Eckerd/Fays was on the same side (and directly to the left of, looking from 9W) the A&P building (it's now Beer World, though that opened recently). The plaza across the street had the Hallmark store (KD, which also has a store in Hudson) - I think they took over the Penney's Catalog at both locations after Eckerd was sold out to Rite Aid (the Hudson KD store also had an Eckerd across Route 9).

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 16:48
by nysw3636
A&P Red Hook, NY closed in the 1994.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 09 Dec 2023 20:39
by Max
MikeRa wrote: 25 Apr 2009 12:30 The think these 4 A&P's are now the oldest A&P still opened. they all started out as early 1950's Arch roof A&P's that later got a front remodel into the "Centennial/colonial" design. They are:
  • 289 Bergen Boulevard, Fairview, NJ (A&P Food Market)
  • 507 Prospect Avenue, Little Silver, NJ (A&P Food Market)
  • 580 Central Avenue, New Providence, NJ (A&P Food Market)
  • 199 Kinderkamack Road, Park Ridge, NJ (A&P Fresh Park Ridge)
These are all of the "Centennial/Colonial" stores that A&P still operates:
  • A&P Fresh Greenwich, 160 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT
  • Best Cellars at A&P, 46 Danbury Road, Ridgefield, CT
  • A&P Food Market, 1201 High Bridge Road, Stamford, CT
  • Super Fresh Food Market, 4330 48th Street NW, Washington, DC
  • Super Fresh Food Market, 401 New London Road, Newark, DE
  • Super Fresh Super Store, 5101 East Drive, Arbutus, MD
  • Super Fresh Super Store, 832 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson, MD
  • A&P Food Market, 110 Washington Street, Morristown, NJ
  • A&P Food Market, Washington Valley Road, Pluckemin, NJ
  • A&P Fresh Market, 450 Main Street, Armonk, NY
  • A&P Food Market, Route 22 & 138, Golden Bridge, NY
  • A&P Food Market, 132 Bedford Road, Katonah, NY
  • A&P Food Market, 230 Saw Mill River Road, Millwood, NY
  • A&P Fresh Market, 668 Central Park Avenue, Scarsdale, NY
  • A&P Fresh Market, 1366 East Main Street, Shrub Oak NY
  • Waldbaum's, 375 Tompkins Avenue, Staten Island, NY
  • A&P Fresh Market, Columbus Avenue, Thornwood, NY
  • Super Fresh Food Market, 309 South 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA
Although A&P sadly no longer exists, it is interesting to speculate as to what was the oldest operating A&P at the time of the company's liquidation. Note that MikeRa mentioned four A&P stores which he thought could have been the oldest that were still open back when he wrote his post.

Although I am not 100% certain, the research I did while on Newspapers.com leads me to believe that the Little Silver, NJ A&P was the oldest operating A&P at the time of the company's liquidation. The Little Silver A&P opened as a barrel roof store on November 14, 1956, having been built just before the first Centennials opened. (As far as I am aware, the first Centennials opened in 1957.) A news blurb about the grand opening--along with photos of the store--can be found in the following day's edition of The Daily Register (of Red Bank, NJ). According to that paper, the store (originally) consisted of 17,500 square feet of space, 12,000 of which comprised the selling area.

Of course, the Little Silver A&P was expanded and had a Centennial front that covered up the store's original exterior facade. That expansion and exterior alteration took place circa 1971 (at the tail end of the Centennial Era). According to an advertisement in the March 31, 1971 edition of The Daily Register, plans were announced to expand the supermarket by approximately 10,000 square feet and to renovate the entire shopping center so that it would have a colonial look. FYI, a photo of the expanded and renovated A&P appears in the June 2, 1973 edition of The Daily Record (of Long Branch, NJ).

The New Providence A&P at 580 Central Avenue was a Centennial from day one; according to a newspaper advertisement, it opened on February 25, 1959. As a result of an expansion and renovation which was completed in 1978, the original Centennial facade was unfortunately obstructed (and replaced with an exterior typical of many 1970s A&Ps). As some know, the 580 Central Avenue supermarket closed before A&P's liquidation, since it was replaced with a new store at 1260 Springfield Avenue on September 18, 2010. The 1260 Springfield Avenue location would be the last supermarket to open with the A&P name (although not the last store ever opened by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company; that distinction goes to a Super Fresh in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia which opened on August 26, 2011).

Although I was unable to ascertain opening dates for the Fairview and Park Ridge stores which MikeRa mentioned, they both opened after the Little Silver supermarket. This is because an A&P ad in the February 25, 1958 edition of The Bergen Evening Record--note that Newspapers.com actually identifies the paper as The Record of Hackensack, NJ--listed the chain's supermarkets in Bergen County, and the two aforementioned (future) A&Ps do not appear on the list.

Before I conclude, one very interesting thing about the Park Ridge A&P concerns an expansion and renovation that was completed in November 1975. In newspaper advertisements promoting the store, A&P's then-new oval/"Sunrise" logo appeared. (And in one of the advertisements, there is an artist's rendering of the store that "shows" the Park Ridge A&P sporting the new oval logo.) If memory serves me correctly, there once was discussion on this message board as to whether the oval/"Sunrise" A&P logo appeared on a trial basis before being rolled out chain-wide in 1976. The November 1975 newspaper ads for the Park Ridge A&P indeed confirm that this logo actually made its debut in 1975. (Regarding the chain-wide rollout, note that based on sampling newspaper ads, the old A&P logo was still the one used as of Sunday, February 1, 1976. But by the following Sunday, February 8, A&P's oval/"Sunrise" logo was used.)