If your favorite Grocery Store from the Past wasn't mentioned in this Video... Be sure to Check out Part 2 of this video 😁. th-cam.com/video/dFpwlJ2tAdg/w-d-xo.html
My grandfather ran the meat department at A&P before he retired. My grandmother purchased all her food and groceries from A&P for years. Today the name is long forgotten. So sad...
Not forgotten by those of us who went to A&P with our grandparents when we were kids. Those were good memories shopping with them. As long as we are still around, A&P still lives within us. ❤️
Then in the late 80s A&P name was changed to Save A Center, in a last ditch effort to stay afloat, and disappeared in about 2 more years in Charlotte NC
When I worked at A&P I used to love to open the case of 8 O'clock coffee it smelled so goodi remember the red bags and I believe the decaf was orange bags
A&P Ruled back in the day. The smell of that 8: o’clock coffee with the manual grinder located at the end of this large wooden table. In my local store in Brooklyn NY, they would have sawdust on the wooden floors in the meat and deli section! Oh well! Time goes on!
I remember the customer-operated grinders! They had three different blends. The customer would take a bag of coffee beans off the shelf, run it through the grinder, close the bag, and bring it to the checkout. The aroma would fill that section of the store.
Can remember the great smell from the A&P coffee grinders near the end if cashier belts. My mom shopped at Penn Fruit, A&P , Food Fair, Pantry Pride & Path mark all of which long since closed.
Yep I found everGirl clothing at Kohl’s while online using my iPad I should definitely ask Santa Claus to bring me 1 shirt from the everGirl clothing line during the Christmas holidays (Only Skye)
I remember as a child, my parents would ask me to go to our local A&P store to purchase milk and butter every Saturday afternoon. Every Tuesday ny father would purchase Two bags of freshly ground in store Eight O'clock Coffee. My parents were heavy Coffee drinkers. It could be 100 degrees outside, and my parents would consume coffee all the time. Every morning the aroma of coffee swirled around the house all the time. ☺️😚
We all drank coffee during office breaks year round. It was encouraged to drink coffee rather than cold water when the outdoor temperature was 110 or more. The maintenance managers stated you could get very sick by consuming cold water during our hot summers and I have followed that practice for over 50 years myself.
I remember you'd fill your Eight O'clock coffee bag with whole beans. Then, each check out register had a grinder and they'd grind up your beans while checking out. I buy 8 o'clock online now, and grind up the beans at home.
I grew up on Long Island and I remember Pathmark, Waldbaums, Grand Union and Shop Rite. They have King Kullen now and they’re a pretty decent grocery store, in addition to the smaller Stop and Shop stores. We also had a grocery store called Hills but they didn’t last long. We had Food Fair in the 1960s but they weren’t as good as Pathmark or Waldbaums where my mom shopped all the time. I remember that Pathmark had a pharmacy inside….the kind where the pharmacist was in a raised office….you actually looked up at them and o recall he walked up a small set of stairs to retrieve your prescription. Things were so cool back then. Today, everything stinks. Although, I find that Walmart is the cheapest place to buy groceries.
A tiny bit of A&P still survives: their former flagship house brand 8 o'clock Coffee is still sold in stores everywhere. Now that it is no longer tied to A&P, their former competitors happily sell what was at once time surely the biggest coffee brand in the world. I remember going to an A&P as a kid and my parents gave me a bag of coffee to grind at the front of the store. They did the work but let me feel like I was helping. The machine was at the end of the middle checkout stand where everyone could see it. It was also very loud and everybody could smell the freshly ground coffee. I am sure that loud, fragrant machine right where you could see it work sure helped sell a lot of coffee. Brands like Folgers and Maxwell House owe a debt of gratitude to A&P for making grind it yourself coffee a thing.
That just brought back so many memories!!! I remember this very well. Every other check out isle had that big red, all metal and loud grinder at the end of the checkout. Remember the dial where you could choose your grind? Auto drip, percolate, course and about 10 others. I’ll never forget how good A&P always smelled when checking out.
My A&P growing up in the 1960s had the coffee & grinder too across from the checkout lanes. Standard strategic placement, right? My Dad handled that while Mom usually went straight to the butcher. I remember the floor itself had blue & yellow tiles. I remember a lot of sawdust on the floors, too. It wasn't a big store, maybe 6 aisles. We lived in a small community then. I got reintroduced to that A&P coffee aroma smell when I put a pod of it in my first Keurig bought a few years back & all those memories came flooding back. ☕🙂
I hate the smell of coffee, but our local IGA was formerly one of the last 10 A&P's in NC and they still have the coffee grinder at the front of the store.
Just found this. There's a huge amount of history behind many of the stores you covered here, and remnants of some remain. BiLo store #1 still stands with their 60's and 70's iconic life-sized plastic cow statue still sitting on top of it- only now it's a junkyard office. In nearby Clemson SC there were several BiLo's, and a springtime fraternity tradition was to steal one of the cows each year, always returning it a couple weeks later. Nobody was ever caught pulling off that prank. A&P began as the Atlantic and Pacific Tea company, only branching into groceries when a tenant in one of their warehouses went broke and they sold what was abandoned. Piggly-Wiggly stores still exist in places. Post WW2 they focused on the poor and Black communities in the segregated south which didn't have real grocery stores, and that's where the remaining locations still exist. Piggly-Wiggly invented the modern grocery store/retail shopping system with aisles and carts and a check-out line at the front as a means to reduce employees while increasing the flow of customers using smaller than usual locations. They also originated the practice of restocking displays at night with cheap part-time workers wanting an extra job while not getting in the way of daytime sales. Winn-Dixie was prolific in the south where every town of any size had one, they tried to be the first into these places thus getting the entire market there because there wasn't enough business for competitors to exist. There are still some smaller regional chains left but the big names all came to failure after selling out to large corporations or unrelated businesses who wanted more profits and over-expanded them into ruin, or who milked them dry of money without re-investing into the business. Most of the remaining small chains are family-owned businesses or semi-independent franchises like IGA, or upscale stores instead of discount-price ones. WalMart has made it tough for them but there are still plenty of us who prefer to do business with our local grocers and always will.
Remember a few of these growing up in coastal Georgia - A&P (was in a strip mall with a Woolworths and Sears), Pantry Pride/JM Fields (you could walk from one to the other without having to go outside) and of course the Pig (Piggly Wiggly). Just about all the buildings still exist with other businesses in them now. There still exists a Piggly Wiggly on US17 in Eulonia, GA.
@Jessica Smith Of all the grocery chains, I believe A&P was the largest geographically, though I have no knowledge of the NW and N Central states. It was certainly one of the oldest. In most of the places I know of from say 1985 and back, it was at a level above the discount chains with a larger and wider selection of top nationwide brands, which is how they could stay in a market with stiff local discount competition. Also worth mentioning is that some national chains would have only a few locations in a state where there were enough affluent people to make it viable, with there being no others.
Piggly Wiggly is still around. They do great business in many towns in Wisconsin and have built many new stores the last 20 years, although they pulled out of Iowa back in the late 70's - early 80's. We used to have Eagles stores in Iowa too. My grandmother shopped there quite a bit.
Actually, it was "The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company" as I remember. My mom used to take me to the one in downtown Greensboro, NC back in the early 50's. Like the other commenter said, I can still remember the coffee grinder and the smell of freshly ground coffee. That brings back memories. Later, in the mid seventies, I was checking out at the nearby Kroger one night after work, around midnight, and a couple came up to check out. The checkout lady didn't say a word, she just placed their five pound bag of coffee on the scale and said "there's almost ten pounds of coffee in this bag". You could see that the bag was bulging nearly to the bursting point. They had ground two bags and put all they could in one bag. The clerk didn't flinch. She made them pay per pound. She had seen that trick before. Kroger's grinder was back near the coffee, instead of up front in the store where you paid first and then ground the coffee. Kroger had a gold packed 100% Colombian coffee back then that was a store brand and was the main item that I even bought there. Man, it was good. We don't have any Kroger's in our area anymore, but from what one of the other commenters said, our Harris-Teeters are actually under Kroger's name. The Harris-Teeters here are VERY nice. I go there occasionally, but mainly go to the Walmart Neighborhood store near me and Aldi a little further away.
We had a Piggly Wiggly that rebranded to Eagle when I was a kid, it's where my mom did all our grocery shopping. I don't remember the store as much as I remember the baggers. Every register had a bagger, always a guy, who would bag groceries and put them in a cart. The carts had small, numbered 'license plates' and the cashier (always a female) would write that number in black crayon on the back of the receipt. You'd go to your car, pull to the front, flash your numbered receipt and a bagger would load your groceries into your car. Today you're lucky to get a grunt of recognition, not to mention your groceries bagged. Dominick's was my first job in Chicago many years ago, I worked in the deli for $6/hr and I thought I was rich.
Customer service is going to crap in this country. It's one way for a business to cut corners. Now they have self checkouts where they expect you to be a cashier. What a joke!
When I worked at Walmart they put the self check out in. Before you know it they were arresting customers like hotcakes. That's what they get for trying to eliminate customer service
In 1984 we shopped at an Albertsons grocery store in Orlando Fla. We had our 2 month old newborn boy with us at the register. My wife and I had the baby in a carrier on the cart. All was well, but when we turned to pay for the food the bag boy took our cart and started for the door without even waiting for us. He was rather rough and pushed the cart over the small bump at the doorway. Our son fell out of the cart and his head hit the cement floor. We should have sued them for that, but we were both young and stupid. Now you know..... why stores don't allow ignorant teenagers to take your food to the car anymore. I worked nearly 4 years myself as a bag boy in Ohio, and never did anything so dumb.....but I guess... I would never try and mess with someone's cart that had a baby in it. Common sense isn't so common anymore!!!!
Dayton, Ohio here. Our family owned and operated 2 local IGA stores: Wilmington Heights South & North, both on Wilmington Pike in Kettering. My father Jim Karras managed the south store & my uncle Andy Karras the north store & brother Pete Karras helped out as well (mostly produce manager). Fond memories growing up in the 70's, 80's & 90's. Both locations closed in the late 90's with my father Jim passing away shortly later in 1997. Couldn't compete with the larger Cub Foods (Lofino' s owned), Kroger & the new kid in town Meijer who still has one of their best stores within a mile north of our South location on Wilmington Pike. People loved our fresh meats, crazy day sales & import products mostly from Greece since all my family came from Greece. Not the same now. Dot's is still around (great meats) so I would encourage everyone to shop small if you still can.
Meijer is everywhere in Michigan* but just a few here in Ohio; I've been to the fairly close new one in Seven Hills. No Krogers which seems odd as aren't they based in Cincinnati? * only big diff is no can & bottle collecting machines; 10 centavos per container in Michigan..
I remember your stores fondly. Dayton had many small chains at one time.. Liberal,Stumps...Food Town rings a bell. Dot's is the last. Happy to hear they're opening a new store in Crosspointe. I hope it does well. I was friends with Connie Karras.
I absolutely LOATHE Walmart. Thankfully, we have HEB. I do miss the old days when grocery stores were for buying groceries, and you didn't have to hitch hike to get from one end of the store to the other.
Yes and I equally hate the giant Kroger Markeplace stores. Do we really need to have Starbucks, a liquor store, a bank, a clinic, a wine-tasting center and clothing all in a grocery store? Like a modern phone, the original function is now a minor aspect. Of course they do the Walmart thing of having only 1 door open but the only open registers are a mile away at the other end of the store with long lines. Then you have to hike back to the open door to get to your car. It takes longer to deal with the obstacles than it does to select your groceries.
@@jamesdennis2058 ...I remember back in 1960s here in Northern Virginia Giant Food grocery stores had clothing section in their stores. Someone in that company got smart did away with selling clothing in a grocery store.
@Charles Jan - We have a Kroger here where the back aisle is so long you can barely see the other end of it... Kroger does a $Billion in business WEEKLY! Yes, Walmart is a dept. store... Super Walmarts have full blown supermarkets inside as well. Walton family owners are all $Billionaires...
Very nice man, I worked as a manager at Bi Lo in the 80's and 90's. I was surprised when they just .. well.. were gone, Food lion and KJ's bought them here, I was so glad I documented the exterior and wish I got the interior but I washtub expecting them to vanish. I started in grocery retail in 1985, let me tell you, so much has changed and greed is overwhelming in the industry today. Great story man, brought back some memories.
Everyone thought BiLo was doing well even after Ahold bought them; it was the last surviving large discount grocery chain in the SE and without competition. It's collapse surprised us all. I remember in the early 60's my grandmother gathering us kids to carry groceries for her from BiLo #1 where she spent $1 per paper bag full, and still had money to buy us candy for helping. That store is now a junkyard office and still has the signature "BiLo Cow" mounted on the roof. Frank Outlaw's home still sits by the Saluda river visible from the road but almost nobody knows it's significance anymore. It's part of Greenville SC area's history and will never be forgotten here
When the family moved to St. Louis in 1965, the major stores were A&P and Kroger. Others included National Foods, Bettendorf-Rapp, Safeway, IGA, TomBoy and two smaller, local stores, Schnucks and Dierbergs. Today, the two local stores dominate the market. A&P dissolved in 2017, though it's IP is active. Kroger left STL in 1985. Chicago-based National was acquired by Canadian-based Loblaws, then shuttered in the early 90's. An employee-owned revival only lasted a year or two. Schnucks bought Bettendorf-Rapp from American Stores in 1970, launching their expansion. They acquired some assets from both Kroger and National as they closed, then acquired about half Supervalu's Shop 'n Save stores when UNFI bought out Supervalu in 2019 and started liquidating their retail. Safeway pulled out of much of the Midwest in the 70's and is now part of Albertsons. There are a few IGA's left, but mostly in rural towns. Minneapolis-based Supervalu had purchased the local IGA distributor in 1979, starting the Shop 'n Save brand here. TomBoy faded from view; it's smaller, neighborhood stores couldn't compete. Dierbergs started as one store in 1856 and has expanded to 26, all in metro STL. Schnucks has around 115 stores in four states. Both are still family-owned. Kroger returned to the market a few years ago with it's Ruler Foods small-format, discounted house-brand stores. At least one is in a store they abandoned as a Kroger nearly 40 years ago. And then there's Wallyworld and Target, along with Whole Paycheck Foods, Fresh Thyme and discounters Aldi (1979) and Save a Lot (1978), which is based in STL. Lidl has not expanded this far west, yet.
Last IGA in my part of southern IL closed and family Dollar is moving in that will no longer have single grocery story at all . but hay that 10$ or small bag sugar . there a Schnucks few block from me carbondale IL that got high prices to but also have good cookies we have 2 walmart close by and Korger and small Co-op Small store it like heath foods place and Internatonal store where one ladies charge what she feel like bases on your skin color she hate most people . So i go Korgar or Walmart mostly i don't feel like getting tooken to cleaners by Schnucks on a lot things
I live in South Carolina and I sure do miss Bi-Lo. They had great stuff at reasonable prices. I frequented the one in Cayce while in college. I hate that it was Food Lion that bought a lot of the remaining stores here in S.C. as I find them to be a inferior grocery store.
I just found out they closed. Haven’t been down to my Condo in SC since the pandemic until now and found out they closed up. Used to love that place. Had a great deli section and used to pick up food before hitting the beach.
My college biology teacher used to call Food Lion Food Monster. I believe there was a Colonial Grocery store at Lenox Sq. In the '60s. My older brother once worked there. There was talk about putting a grocery store at Cumberland Mall in Cobb Co., Ga. not too long as if it was a new idea. A&P, Big Star, and Bruno's were here too. We slso had Winn-Dixie and Harris-Teeter. No Piggly Wiggly near me, but there was one in Savannah and later in Decatur. I thought Kohl's was a dept. store. Are they related? I like the Publix near me better than Kroger-too woke.
I remember Big Star and Pantry Pride from my younger childhood years in the early ‘80s and of course A&P is another one. This video really stirred up some nostalgia for me.
I loved A&P's coffee. The store I went to was on Pulaski & 79th Street in Chicago. Back in the 50's & 60's that area where I lived was very nice and safe. Now it is a complete slum and many of the once nice houses are rundown dumps. Very SAD.
@Jessica Smith Hello Jessica, I drove up York Rd from the Towson are to Cockeysville a couple of years ago. It has changed alot but in the same way it still looks the same from when I was a Towson resident back in the early to mid 90s.
I work at Food Lion. We acquired a dozen BILO employees. They are good people, plus their shoppers. I had no idea they changed their stores names. I used to work at Lowes Foods before coming back to Food Lion. I've been here almost eight years. I started working there back in 2000. So altogether I've been with Food Lion for almost fourteen years.
I remember when Food Lion was called Food Town back in the late 70s- early 80s, think they changed their name when the moved into Virginia because there was already store called Food Town there
@@willielarimer7170 Yes I remember Food Town. That's where my parents shopped. When I was ten we moved into my grandpa's house and Food Town was almost next door to my elementary school. I would walk to school.
When I was very young, we had the Iowa Pork Shops in Long Beach, CA. They had a real butcher, bought some of their fruit and veg from local truck farmers, and the bakery was excellent. Bags of flour, not junk brought in by Sysco, etc.
I actually worked for an Alabama based chain called Delchamps. It started as a family run store in Mobile, AL in 1921. At its peak, we were at 118 stores before acquisition by Jitney Jungle stores in Jackson, MS in 1997. We kept our name on our stores till Jitney’s bankruptcy in early 2000
I remember Food Fair, Pantry Pride and A&P in Connecticut. We also had Waldbaums, Shopwell, Basics and Pathmark plus who knows what else. Love seeing all the old cars in the parking lots.
@Greg...My parents shopped at A&P grocery store every Friday evening back in 1960s after dad had gone to the bank cashed his weekly paycheck. First in Fairfax, Virginia then in Herndon, Virginia.
It was either A&P or Grand Union that had the S&H Green Stamps. I rember filling up the green stamp books with stamps to use to "buy" things. Im from a small town in the Adirondack Miuntains in Upstate NY and we had both Grand Union and A&P grocery stores operating at the same time.
@@hondotoo You're probably right, definitely not S&H Green Stamps. One time driving to my uncle's house a few hours away in the bible belt we saw some graffiti. It was a billboard that someone had added to the message: "Jesus Saves" ... _Green Stamps_
@@hondotoo I kept watching, at 14:17 is your Plaid proof. I noticed it after I picked up my jaw from seeing 3 lbs of ground beef for $1.35 in the window!
Those were the best years of growing up and proud to have such grocery stores like in the south we had A&P, Winn Dixie in which they gave you the s&h green stamp that you put in a booklet to either order something out of their catalog or we could cash in the booklet for cash We all had Community Cash that gave out Top Value stamps along with the booklets same thing as far as ordering from the catalog or cash them in for cash. We also had piggy wiggly and Acme and Harris Teeter. The 8 o'clock coffee at A&P had that rich aroma that you can smell through the store and probably the best grocery stores that had reasonable prices and everyone there treated you like family. I really miss those good ole days and was proud to be bought up in those days where you got more than your money worth.
The Bi-Lo I worked at had a manager that ran the store into the ground. He got rid of the old time employees and disrespected customers. One customer got stung by a hornet because there was a nest by the door manager did nothing then managers son was riding a scooter in store and hit an old lady. If I didn't know better I'd swear they sent the jerk in to sabotage store
@@willielarimer7170 in Northwest Indiana we used to have a chain of grocery stores called Buy-Low. obviously not related to the stores you're talking about. they also went out of business. don't know why they were always real busy.
@@danielthoman7324 just like the Bi-Lo I worked at the buy low you shopped at was probably bought out. We have a local company here called Harris Teeter, they were bought out by Kroger
I remember Alpha Beta and shopped there once or twice as a child in the Oxnard, CA area. I used to love shopping at Lucky Stores as an adult in Northern California.
I fondly remember shopping at Alpha Beta with my mom as a youngster in Upland, CA. I also remember Lucky’s and Ralph’s Supermarkets as well. Great Memories!
Skaggs Alpha Beta was our go to grocery store in Tulsa when I was a kid. It seemed like they had everything. I still remember most of their locations too. Still a great time to be a kid.
Growing up and still living in Newark, NJ, I remember only two grocery stores from my childhood... A&P and FoodTown (which both went bye-bye). Later, we had PathMark (which is also gone now). ShopRite, Super Fresh, Walmart, and Extra are the biggest supermarkets now, but we do have a few smaller markets with decent products and prices...
I didn't know there were still Super Fresh stores open anywhere now. Most Super Fresh stores were old A & P stores. A & P sold a number of locations including most of the Pennsylvania stores to their employees' union who renamed those A & P stores, Super Fresh. This happened in 82 or 83. Sadly, most of those stores got bought by the Philadelphia based super market Genuardi's in the early 2000s. About 10 years later Genuardi's got sold to Safeway not long after that. Then in the early 2010s they were sold to Giant who rebranded all of the old Genuardi's to Giant and closed a bunch of the stores closer to Philly for good. I still see abandoned A & P's when I travel through Western NJ close to the PA border.
I was surprised to find out that there are five Foodtowns left in NJ. Two of them art not to far from you. And there's one last Foodtown left in Brooklyn promising to make a comeback. All I have are Acmes around me.
I remember when I would visit my grandparents in LA, sometimes my grandpa would mention that we had to go to "the Alpha Beta" and then pull up to a Food 4 Less. Now that makes a lot more sense...
Oh my gosh, I remember some of these. Growing up in Washington state we had an A&P not far from the house which my parents always shopped at. When that left we switched to the Lucky grocery store down the road and I also remember a Prairie Market in another city close by. A bit south of us near a friend's house was a Piggly Wiggly and I also remember shopping at Alpha Beta when I visited friends in California. WOW, great memories but all those stores are gone now. Thanks for the informative video.
IGA still exists, but they're all now franchise stores locally owned and locally run as they see fit with little overall corporate control. More of a buyer's association to get better wholesale prices on some items than they could individually.
The Independent Grocers Alliance dates to 1926 in Chicago. They are a cooperative wholesaler-franchiser which sells to retailers and provides cooperative advertising under the IGA banner. IGA did own some stores, but after two bankruptcies, no longer. Much like today's Wakefern Group (ShopRite and several other Northeastern brands), and Piggly Wiggly, which franchises in much of the Southeast and Upper Midwest, but is based at C&S wholesalers in New Hampshire.
Great video! I didn’t know so many of these chains lasted as long as they did. I also didn’t know that Kohl’s Food Stores was the same Kohl’s as…well, Kohl’s!
Kohl's was owned by the Senator, Herb Kohl. He sold it, retired and became a politician. He was good at it, only served two terms and retired again. The Kohl's department store is a different owner I believe.
We had 3 Alpha Beta’s, 3 Mayfair’s and a couple of ThriftyMarts with the big red “T” on the top of the store. Most of these stores i have never heard of. Great video…thank you
My First job was at A & P Food Stores on General Meyer Ave. in Lower Coast of Algiers, when I was 16! (Worked "Bottle Sorter" -separated the Coca Cola, Pepsi, R.C. bottles). Worked my way up to Stock Boy, Warehouse Receiving,etc.. Started out making .25 cents an hour in 1966, to almost $3.20 an hour in 1980!!! W. Joseph Gordon
There was a Dominick's store in Vernon Hills IL , outside of Hawthorn Mall. It was well known as a great place to meet / see members of the Chicago Bears NFL team. As a kid I met William "Refrigerator" Perry , Dan Hampton , Steve McMichael , Jim McMahon , Willie Gault , and Jeff Fisher at this store lol.
Dad worked for A&P as a semi loader his entire life. Of course we shopped there too. In Wisconsin we also had a Red Owl Store not far down the street. Oh the good old days. ❤
In the 1970s, I grew up in Orlando, Florida, with several grocery store chains. This city had T.G. & Y., Pantry Pride, A&P, Piggly Wiggly, Food Lion, and other smaller food chains. Eventually, they were bought out or went bankrupt. The stores that survived are Publix, Winn Dixie, Albertsons, and Wal-Mart. Since my father was a veteran, my mother and I would shop at the McCoy Air Force Base's grocery store. We also would shop at the base's P.X. (Public Exchange) store, similar to a drug store. Buying groceries at those stores meant you did not have to pay sales tax, and they were a lot cheaper than the other stores. I still remember the old cashier's machines with all those buttons the cashier had to press for each transaction by hand. There were no bar codes on the packaging or a scanner to ring the items up. Computerized cashier machines and scanners in grocery stores did not start until the late 1970s or the early 1980s. Even credit card transactions were done by hand, too. The cashier had to look up the card number in a book to ensure the card was not stolen or canceled. It's funny now, but Master Card was called Master Charge, and Visa was called BankAmericard. It wasn't until the names were changed as they are now in the mid-1970s. Technology has made shopping a lot easier.
Watched the video and thought "What about Acme?" They closed left and right in northern PA and upstate NY in the '70s. Come to find out they are alive and well. Couldn't tell you the last time I saw one. 🤔 Definitely miss A&P. They were on Main Street of almost every small town when I was a kid.
Acme is holding their own in the Philadelphia area but are being given a run for their money by Shop Rite and Giant. I now live in NE Pennsylvania and the closest Acme to me is 40 miles away in New Jersey. The largest Shop Rite in the United States is in a small town, Broadheadsville, twenty minutes from me.
As a high schooI student in the 1960s' I worked part-time for both A&P (stocked shelves) and Food Fair Stores (cashier) in Dumont and Bergenfield, NJ. I have very fond memories of the stores and the managers. At both stores the managers made sure that the floors were clean, the shelves stocked properly, and the produce, dairy, and meat departments organized and spotless. While the A&P in Dumont was a small store the Food Fair in Bergenfield was huge, for its time. You had to be 16 to work at the A&P and 17 at Food Fair plus they paid $00.20 more per hour. Your video brought back some very pleasant memories. Thank you.
I worked at Kohl's Grocery stores. Max Kohl started with a Produce stand on a Milwaukee street corner. In 72 Max retired and left the chain to his sons Herb and Allen. In 74' the sold controlling interest to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. I left their employ to join the Army soon after. But I remember the brothers well. It was a real good place to work.
In Philadelphia, PA back in the 1950s we had Penn Fruit, Food Fair, A&P and Acme Markets. After Food Fair had problems, they converted to Pantry Pride, as you indicated. Penn Fruit became Dale's. A&P became Super Fresh. A latecomer was Pathmark. We also had a CWM (Consumer's Warehouse Markets) whose big claim to fame was that they sold Grade B eggs dirt cheap. Shop Rite was also a latecomer. The one currently in my Frankford neighborhood used to be a Food Fair, I think. Your video brought back a lot of good memories. Thanks.
@John J Devlin...I remember Acme Market being in Princeton, West Virginia. My parents rarely shopped there I believe their prices were higher than Kroger and A&P. So my parents shopped at A&P in town.
Everyone loved A&P. It' interesting that at least two of their brands live on, Eight O'clock coffee and Jane Parker fruitcake. Growing up in the A&P era I can say that one thing killed A&P and that was not understanding the need to compete on price. They would advertise they had lowered prices and people would return to find they had actually raised prices.
@Charles Jan Your comment leads me to believe that the A&P name still has potential value even after being out of business for some years. The right people with an Aldi style store plan might potentially bring the company back.
We had two nice big Giant Eagle Supermarkets, an east coast chain I believe, here in Toledo, Ohio, but high prices... raw beef steak up to $25/lb... lasted about 3 - 5 years around here... we also have Kroger, Walmart, and Meijer's... one store left of Churchill's mini chain (cousins to Winston Churchill)... The Anderson's stores shut down... Food Town gone... Farmer Jack gone... Edwards gone... Kash & Karry gone... Joseph's gone... Bassett's gone... A&P gone... Cub's Foods gone...
I still love Eight O'clock coffee! In the early - mid 70's, as a little boy, my great grandma would let me help her grind it. I was fascinated by the aroma, and the grinder, whirring away. Good times!
@@boballmendinger3799 you can still get 8o' clock coffee at Walmart they sell the whole bean regular and Colombian target sells the 8o' clock ground coffee
I used to live on Chicago Ave near Damen Blvd. when I was a kid. On the corner was a cigar shop then there was a small music store, next was a huge furniture store. Next to that was the gem of the neighborhood....A & P !!!! All this was across the street from my house!!! All the stores were all lit up at night. Just beautiful. Now all that's gone, very sad, but good memories. Peace and Love ☮️❤️
In southern California, we had a chain grocery store called Von's that was akin to Lucky, Alpha Beta, etc. The one in Van Nuys was open 24 hours. Could still be there, but I'm not :D. We also had a k-mart style style store with groceries and some home goods called Gemco. Grew up in the 60s-70s. My mom shopped Lucky even though there was an Albertson's and Alpha Beta closer. Don't know why the preference.
I REALLY miss A&P stores. The smell of fresh ground coffee when you walked in was so inviting. Their private label brands were the equal to or better than national brands. Jane Parker, Ann Page, Eight O'clock, Bokar to name a few.
I still miss the A&P (and Ben Franklin's) that I'd visit as a kid. And, for that matter, K Mart, Publix, and EJ Korvettes. ...To be honest, I was just as fascinated by the old cars in this vid!
We shopped at A&P all the time when I was young and many an allowance dollar went to the Ben Franklin a couple of doors down from the grocery store. Great memories and I miss the stores.
I miss A&P. A&P was North New Jersey based, and in its stores there carried products of interest to people of Dutch ancestory, that were and are near impossible to get else where. Mainly Leiden cheese (cheese flavored with cumin and containing cumin seeds) and ultra cured slab bacon. The coffee roasting business was sold and A&P coffee is sold in other chains. Some parts of A&P still operate under different names. A thing that killed A&P was that it bought out other supermarket chains that were in worse shape than they were.
8 o'clock coffee was sold....A&P ceased existing in November of 2015 with ZERO of its stores existing. ACME bought a lot of there old locations in the eastern US but have no connections to A&P after that. The naming rights to A&P were purchased by a group and now sell coffee and tea online. They have a Instagram page as well.
Growing up in Freeport in the 60's I remember there were three major chain supermarkets-A&P;Henke and Pilat*(*Now Kroger) and Weingarten's. A&P gave out Plaid Stamps;Henke and Pilat gave out Top Value Stamps and Weingarten's gave out Big Bonus Stamps. BTW:If anyone on here who grew up in the Houston/Southeast Texas area in the 60's please post a comment on here. I'd love to remininesce about what it was like growing up back then.
Most people used A&P as a convenience store, buying only loss leaders. They were far more expensive than the surrounding competing supermarkets. Instead of cutting prices, they would send "specialists" to rearrange the store and cut benefits for the workers. (My friend worked there) I read in the paper that the CEO was making a lot of money. No surprise they closed.
A friend of mine worked for Kohl's in Milwaukee and after A&P took over it began the real slide. He was manager at 2 inner city stores and had to fight tooth and nail to stock it with items blacks wanted. He had to do some slight of hand moves and order from outside vendors and this store had one of the better profit margins. He and most of the staff were speedy catching shoplifters and he even hired a few who turned out to be good employees. Sadly near the end he had the distinction of closing six of the last stores.
My brother in law managed an A&P in Jacksonville in the 70's. I did not know him until the 80's as he was quite a bit older than me and my sister who he married. I do remember that the A&P we had semi locally was pretty dinky, and no match for Winn-Dixie or even Pantry Pride. He always said the downfall there was paying union wages and that they did not adopt the supermarket model quicker. I miss Pantry Pride, and to a far lesser extent BI-LO which I experienced in the Carolinas later.
I, have worked in retail for 39 years, and I am now retired from Meijer, which is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I, hope you do a part 2 of this video.
The stores I remember that are no longer around are IGA's, Dominick's, Certified Grocery and a mom-and-pop store called "Guido's". It was either in Melrose Park or Carol Stream. Once big corporations took over most of the local stores, the quality and variety went downhill. Even Jewel/Osco (originally The Jewel Tea and Coffee Company) lost it's unique Chicago "flavor" and became very middle of the road. I remember the great promo's grocery stores used to have like Green Stamps or the lesser-known Plaid Stamps. They also had give aways. You'd get a card and every time you spent X number of dollars you got a little star or sticker. Once you filled up a card-or more than one card, you could redeem them at the customer service desk for dishes, small appliances like toasters or electric can openers and sets of glasses or silverware.
I grew up in a small town in Louisiana. There was a Stanley Super D, Piggly Wiggly and Big Star. All are gone now and replaced by Wal Mart and a Market Basket.
My mama loved shopping at A&P when its location in Thomasville, NC was open, and it was shut down along with all of the other A&P stores here in North Carolina.
@Benji Martin...My parents always shopped at A&P back in 1960s first at Princeton, West Virginia then after we moved to Northern Virginia at Fairfax then Herndon.
We shopped at Pantry Pride on Davie Blvd in Fort Lauderdale in the late 60's, seemed like a nice place to shop and they sold a brand of soda called Golden Age we all loved.
I miss A&P I grew up knowing this store they used to be one on Chicago Avenue in Chicago I missed it so much my grandmother and everybody used to go to the amp also missed the Green Stamps back in the days love it
I live in South Georgia and there are still a few Piggly Wiggly & IGA grocery stores around. I also remember my parents shopping at J.M. Fields and Pantry Pride in the 70's (i remember the plain black & white labels on many products), and as a young woman in the early 80's I shopped at A&P sometimes.
Another native Baltimorean here who remembers MARS supermarket. Very few knew just where the name came from. Was it named for the planet Mars? Did the letters stand for something? They had their own store brands and we're always busy, as I recall, sadly, as you said, this family-owned chain outlived the family and the younger ones sold out.
I worked for A&P in Georgia and Alabama back in the late 90's. Helped close down 3 stores. Worked for Foodmax, which was part of Bruno's, also in the 90s and helped shut down the store I worked at. Finding out your store is closing and you won't have a job is not a happy feeling. When I worked at Foodmax, I was part of the night stock crew. Got a call during the day saying don't come in tonight, meeting in the morning. I asked why, the boss said, "We're closing". My half awake self said "We close every night!" Found out it was permemantly . It's also very very strange watching a grocery store slowly becoming empty as the closing process continues.
There were stores, gas stations, and restaurants around here that were open 24 hours... when they finally shut down, nobody knew where the keys were for the doors...
When I lived in Chicago, the grocery stores my parents bought at were Jewel, A&P, High-Low, & another store, in Arlington Heights Illinois where I moved to in 67, we shopped at Jewel, my mom really liked Dominick's better, Alpha Beta I remember a lot in California, I believe that Suzanne Somers hubby Alan Hamel used to advertise for Alpha Beta, also in Arlington Heights, we had a couple of Eagle grocery stores by me, we'd shop there on occasion, so it's very interesting to watch these videos & find stuff that I can relate to considering that it was part of my formative years
Thanks for watching! High-Low stores are a great suggestion and just did some research on that chain. Most of the stores on this list never really made it to the South, but I have only been in a BI-LO store and A&P. Surprisingly "Ingles Grocery Stores" are still holding on by a thread in my area. We can say that they are the "K-Mart of Grocery Stores." Check out some of my other videos as well! I cover Drug Stores, Book Stores, Department Stores, and Electronic Stores.
Finally someone that remembers High-Low. That's where we got our high-low wagon. Loved that store as a kid. They had sandwich cookies for a dime with 15 cookies. You could buy one stick of butter or six eggs.A lot of people couldn't afford a whole dozen or four sticks of butter.Liver on sale was 29 cents for a pound.It was in the Hometown shopping plaza on southwest highway.
For several years during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hamel was a commercial pitchman for American Stores, a coast-to-coast chain of supermarkets. Specifically, he did advertisements for Alpha Beta stores in the western United States, and also appeared in occasional spots for Acme Markets in the northeastern United States.
I was born in 53 and I remember my grandmother (who lived with us & did all the shopping) going to A&P, Colonial, Kroger and Big Apple. In the 60s a Piggly Wiggly opened in our hometown.
My first job was as a cashier at Finast. I just worked there for a summer when in High School. The next year I left for college and the store moved into an empty discount department store space next door and rebranded as Edwards Food Warehouse. This was back in 1983-1984 in southern NH.
When my family lived in the northeast, we would alternate between A&P and Grand Union, sometimes the choice was based on whether we needed GU's SSS Blue stamps or A&P's Plaid stamps... 🙂🤔😄
I started working part time at a Big Star in 1966 when I turned 16 as a bagger then a cashier then overnight stocker all in 3 yrs.....really enjoyed it then joined the military in 1970. We have Walmart now, IGA, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Kings Red & White, Whole Food, Aldi and mom and pop places around the area here in NC probably others I don't even know about....... cheers :)
@@leonard5606 You missed Ingles, a family-owned NC business whose niche is in serving smaller towns where places like Walmart are unsustainable and upscale pricier grocers like Publix are unwanted.
@@P_RO_ Never heard of Ingles but I think there is a Publix somewhere around Raleigh maybe more than one but I don't care much about those expensive stores.....Walmart/Food Lion is fine for my needs. If I lived in Goldsboro I'd probably do all my shopping on base anyways....not that cheap but maybe save a penny or two..... cheers :)
One chain in the New York area from about the 1880's until the 1970's was a chain called Bohack's. They even appeared in the original movie version of The Odd Couple, where Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar shows a woman how to test a cantaloupe for ripeness!
Shopped at a Family Dollar this week, in what is a very old strip of stores. You can tell it used to be a grocery store 60 or 70 years ago, and the lot across the road has the foundation footprint of what must have been a huge shopping center. Just a flat lot now. And sure enough, I noticed today the street is still called Colonial Drive. Big Star was a big deal when I was a kid. We had a friend who called it Biggie Star. Miss Winn-Dixie. They had some amazing house brand products. And I really liked their no-frills Saverite sub-brand stores. It was ahead of its time.
I can think of many MI based chains that have gone by the wayside like VG’s, Glen’s, and D&W, now owned by SpartanNash, Felpausch rebranded to Family Fare after being purchased by SpartanNash, and Farmer Jack’s. I’m sure there could be more in MI, but I started working in the state as a food manufacturer rep in 2009. In Indiana we lost Marsh Supermarkets as the latest and a couple that I can think of earlier that were purchased by Kroger are Scott’s, Owens, Pay-Less, and Jay-C stores. Rogers was a local group to Fort Wayne. Mr D’s and O’Malia’s were in the Indianapolis area with Marsh purchasing many of the O’Malia’s stores. I’m sure there are more in these two states and I did see that someone mentioned Big Bear over in OH. Then there has been Fresh Encounters that has purchased groups in OH. Love the video as a 35 year grocery veteran.
Yep and former Food Town from Toledo, Ohio/southern Michigan area... 33 Food Town Supermarkets and 17 The Pharm drugstores in the chain plus Seaway Distributing to supply them... was sold off to Spartans Foods... which closed them after a year... although 3 independent Food Towns popped back up...
I missed Bi-Lo when I was living in Greenville, SC. They were everywhere. I can't believe you left Schwegmann's Giant Supermarket off this list. They were by far the dominant grocery chain in metro New Orleans and SE Louisiana. And when they said Giant, they mean it. The store was huge, almost twice bigger than other grocery stores. Everyone in the New Orleans area missed Schwegmann's!
Throughout my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, my hometown had a Jewel, National, A&P, and Eagle grocery store at one time or another. Jewel-Osco is the only survivor, along with a Sunset Foods (local IL chain) that came to town about 15 years ago. I liked the cool architecture of the Kohl's grocery stores, though they closed not too long after I discovered them.
Mars really began growing when Pantry Pride pulled out of Baltimore in 1982. They had 19 stores at their peak, mostly on the east side of town. One of the assets that they acquired from Pantry Pride was their Baltimore warehouse, and they began to do their own distribution. 5 stores were sold to Weis, 2 have become Lidls and one has become a Best Buy, most of the rest sit empty. I miss them. Reasonable prices, good sales and no card.
If you grew up in the Philly area, you certainly remember Food Fair, Pantry Pride and A&P. Back in the 60's..I think it was Food Fair...when my parents shopped there, they were given race cards for the horse races that were shown on local TV on Saturday nights. If the card and horse were winners, you received the prize money for the win. Sadly, though our family played for several years, we never won a thing! In later years, there was Shop 'n Bag, Thriftway, SuperFresh. But, the ole' reliable Acme still exists and there are just a few stores in Jersey that still maintain the almost-original design and decor of the original Acmes of the 60's (those gigantic faux pieces of fruit on the store's walls...Lol).
Growing up in North Central PA in the 70s, our main grocery chains were: Weis, A&P, Super Duper, Acme, IGA and Giant. Only a few of those names exist. And in 50 mile radius, only one of those stores still exist in the same exact location....Weis Markets on Old Lycoming Road in Williamsport, PA.
My Mom an Grandparents shopped A ,P. My Grandparents loved the apple pie in the "see through pannel"! I ,on the other hand and being a boy, LOVED the empty box bin! Man I could've played half the day there!
Very well researched video. I would love to see a show on Giant Eagle, Glass Block, Bon Marche' and May Company ( all US stores). If you can also do a show including Canadian stores like Food City, Towers, Sayvette, Woolco and Sam the Record Man. That would be truly awesome.
We need these supermarket chains to return. There prices were economical and affordable.... Walmart is running a monopoly on the supermarket industry... there prices are unreasonable and some of the quality of the foods is subpar...
Wegmans, which was originally a northern tier NY store, has been expanding southward in the last two decades. When I used to visit friends in Rochester a trip to Wegmans was always on the agenda. There are now several Wegmans in eastern PA and I'm aware that they've penetrated the Baltimore area. This is a high quality store, so if they're opening in your area stand up and cheer!
Back in the day, I remember in Michigan's Upper Peninsula supermarkets were: 1. A&P 2. IGA Foodliner 3. Red Owl When, A&P Stores closed permanently in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and the Northern Lower Peninsula A&P Stores closed permanently, became IGA Foodliner Stores. Except, for an A&P Store in West Branch, Michigan became a Sav-a-Lot Food Store, in the Colonial Style A&P Food Store. Red Owl in Michigan's Upper Peninsula went out of business.
I remember the A&P, IGA and the Red Owl stores in Manistique in the UP. We vacationed near there every year. The smell of the A&P coffee grinders is what I remember most. All that's gone with nothing left but newer buildings or vacant lots where the stores once stood. Very sad.
@@robertcolpitts4534 A lot of us in the U.P. miss the Red Owl. On ebay mementos of Red Owl are sold for ridiculous amounts. I think around the 90s the Escanaba branch became Super One but that's boarded up and now we have Meijers, which is way too huge for me to navigate. Manistique now only has Jack's. Nice store but prices are high.
@@yoopermary - Doesn't Manistique have a Save-A-Lot food store on the west side of town or is that gone as well? Jack's looks like a "boutique" grocery store like Central Market in Texas but not quite so exotic.
@@robertcolpitts4534 Back in the day, when I would be on vacation in the Houghton and Hancock in the Copper Country, I, remember A&P, IGA, and Red Owl in Hancock, and I would see A&P, IGA, and Red Owl in Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan.
Thank you...A&P use to have the largest warehouse (over mile long) near horseheads NY the pickers use to use roller skates to fill orders .. now the place it use to be has 6 - 8 shopping plazas. Again thank you..
I loved Kohl's Food Stores. Herb Kohl was a Senator from Wisconsin. It was his family that owned the food and department stores. He also owned until about 5 years ago the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.
Loved the 8oclock coffee A&P sold back in the day What about First National Stores I’m surprised you didn’t mention them They were also pretty big chain of stores when I was growing up
My Mom ONLY shopped at the A&P. We had Riverside, Acme, and an independent store named Comet Market. Nope, she would ONLY shop in the A&P. She ended up with the nickname "The A&P girl". lol
This video is very informative as I learned about stores that I’ve never even heard of…I was hoping Farmer Jack would be on your list though, but otherwise, great video!!
Thanks for Watching! Someone else suggested Farmer Jack as well and was impressed with the history and how A&P owned it. I’ll be sure to have it in a future installment.
Yeppers, former Food Town from Toledo, Ohio/southeast Michigan area... 33 Food Town Supermarkets and 17 The Pharm drugstores in the chain plus Seaway Distributing to supply them... was sold off to Spartan Foods... which closed them after a year... although 3 independent Food Towns popped back up...
Yes A & P , I remember going there until we moved from the neighborhood near that store. I was only 5 years old when we moved but I definitely remember going to A & P every Saturday, my whole life I liked grocery shopping. Good Memories...
If your favorite Grocery Store from the Past wasn't mentioned in this Video... Be sure to Check out Part 2 of this video 😁. th-cam.com/video/dFpwlJ2tAdg/w-d-xo.html
Now an online service so is SM.
As is Radio Shack.
You forgot about price rite
❤ A&P
You didn't mention
WiseWay.
My grandfather ran the meat department at A&P before he retired. My grandmother purchased all her food and groceries from A&P for years. Today the name is long forgotten. So sad...
That was in Oneida, New York...
My uncle retired as a Meat cutter from A&P. Good Pension back in the day.
I remember shopping at the A & P for groceries with my parents, in the 1970's. The Jane Parker brand pies were so delicious!! Aaaahh, nostalgia!!!
Atlantic &Pacific Tea Company.
Not forgotten by those of us who went to A&P with our grandparents when we were kids.
Those were good memories shopping with them.
As long as we are still around, A&P still lives within us. ❤️
The actual, official name of A&P was "The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company".
Really;; michigan used have A&P j& farmer jack grocery stores ❤️ farmer jjack great potatoes salid & barbeque chicken
I member
Then in the late 80s A&P name was changed to Save A Center, in a last ditch effort to stay afloat, and disappeared in about 2 more years in Charlotte NC
Wow. Learn something everyday! Thanks
When I worked at A&P I used to love to open the case of 8 O'clock coffee it smelled so goodi remember the red bags and I believe the decaf was orange bags
A&P Ruled back in the day. The smell of that 8: o’clock coffee with the manual grinder located at the end of this large wooden table. In my local store in Brooklyn NY, they would have sawdust on the wooden floors in the meat and deli section! Oh well! Time goes on!
I remember the sawdust!
I remember the customer-operated grinders! They had three different blends. The customer would take a bag of coffee beans off the shelf, run it through the grinder, close the bag, and bring it to the checkout. The aroma would fill that section of the store.
Another Brooklynite here. Waldbaums was great but A&P had plaid stamps.
❤️ A&B & farmer jack barbeque chicken & patatoe salids
No childhood was complete without a trip to A&P for a sweet. Iconic.
Can remember the great smell from the A&P coffee grinders near the end if cashier belts. My mom shopped at Penn Fruit, A&P , Food Fair, Pantry Pride & Path mark all of which long since closed.
Our old A&P building is now a Walgreens but if I close my eyes I can still almost smell that fresh ground coffee .
8 o'clock and Bokar coffees .. we still have them here in Canada at Metro and Food Basics .. we used to have A&P, many moons ago
I flipped one on as a little kid! The cashier lady gave me an annoyed look and shut it off!
Same here! I would love going to that store and smelling that fresh coffee smell.
All Philly area stores. Couldn't compete with the discount chains.
Very interesting about Kohl's! I had no idea they began as a grocery store.
Me neither. You learn something new every day!
Me either
Yep
I found everGirl clothing at Kohl’s while online using my iPad
I should definitely ask Santa Claus to bring me 1 shirt from the everGirl clothing line during the Christmas holidays (Only Skye)
Yes, in Wisconsin where I grew up.
@@cherylkoski7184
Exactly
American Girl (formerly Pleasant Company) is also in Wisconsin
I remember as a child, my parents would ask me to go to our local A&P store to purchase milk and butter every Saturday afternoon. Every Tuesday ny father would purchase Two bags of freshly ground in store Eight O'clock Coffee. My parents were heavy Coffee drinkers. It could be 100 degrees outside, and my parents would consume coffee all the time. Every morning the aroma of coffee swirled around the house all the time. ☺️😚
We all drank coffee during office breaks year round. It was encouraged to drink coffee rather than cold water when the outdoor temperature was 110 or more. The maintenance managers stated you could get very sick by consuming cold water during our hot summers and I have followed that practice for over 50 years myself.
They were famous for the coffee
❤️ farmer jacks potatoes salids& barbeque chicken
I remember you'd fill your Eight O'clock coffee bag with whole beans. Then, each check out register had a grinder and they'd grind up your beans while checking out. I buy 8 o'clock online now, and grind up the beans at home.
The A&P was our market when I was a kid in the 50's & 60's in Pittsburgh. Brings back memories of shopping there.
Pgh here, too. The one in our neighborhood in the 1960's was "up front" on Grandview Avenue, Mt Washington.
You DO realize "Ann Page" product name is an expanded form of A&P?
❤️ barbeque chicken & potatoe salid of farmer chicken
❤️ farmer jack : : great barbeque chicken ;& potatoe salid : A& P grocery store purchase farmer jack
As a kid growing up in New Jersey in the '70s, I remember that we had Foodtown, Grand Union, Pantry Pride, Pathmark and Shop Rite.
We have Shop Rite here in MA
I grew up on Long Island and I remember Pathmark, Waldbaums, Grand Union and Shop Rite. They have King Kullen now and they’re a pretty decent grocery store, in addition to the smaller Stop and Shop stores. We also had a grocery store called Hills but they didn’t last long. We had Food Fair in the 1960s but they weren’t as good as Pathmark or Waldbaums where my mom shopped all the time. I remember that Pathmark had a pharmacy inside….the kind where the pharmacist was in a raised office….you actually looked up at them and o recall he walked up a small set of stairs to retrieve your prescription. Things were so cool back then. Today, everything stinks. Although, I find that Walmart is the cheapest place to buy groceries.
Path mark, shop rite, go to for my parents!
Shop Rite still exists, there's a few across the river in PA too
I remember Grand Union and ShopRite, too. Safeway also had penny movies on a oversized Viewmaster.
A tiny bit of A&P still survives: their former flagship house brand 8 o'clock Coffee is still sold in stores everywhere. Now that it is no longer tied to A&P, their former competitors happily sell what was at once time surely the biggest coffee brand in the world. I remember going to an A&P as a kid and my parents gave me a bag of coffee to grind at the front of the store. They did the work but let me feel like I was helping. The machine was at the end of the middle checkout stand where everyone could see it. It was also very loud and everybody could smell the freshly ground coffee. I am sure that loud, fragrant machine right where you could see it work sure helped sell a lot of coffee. Brands like Folgers and Maxwell House owe a debt of gratitude to A&P for making grind it yourself coffee a thing.
Thanks for pointing that out 😊. Very interesting.
That just brought back so many memories!!! I remember this very well. Every other check out isle had that big red, all metal and loud grinder at the end of the checkout. Remember the dial where you could choose your grind? Auto drip, percolate, course and about 10 others. I’ll never forget how good A&P always smelled when checking out.
My A&P growing up in the 1960s had the coffee & grinder too across from the checkout lanes.
Standard strategic placement, right? My Dad handled that while Mom usually went straight to the butcher.
I remember the floor itself had blue & yellow tiles. I remember a lot of sawdust on the floors, too. It wasn't a big store, maybe 6 aisles. We lived in a small community then. I got reintroduced to that A&P coffee aroma smell when I put a pod of it in my first Keurig bought a few years back & all those memories came flooding back.
☕🙂
I hate the smell of coffee, but our local IGA was formerly one of the last 10 A&P's in NC and they still have the coffee grinder at the front of the store.
@@seed_drill7135 I love the smell of fresh ground coffee. Never could get past the taste.
Just found this. There's a huge amount of history behind many of the stores you covered here, and remnants of some remain. BiLo store #1 still stands with their 60's and 70's iconic life-sized plastic cow statue still sitting on top of it- only now it's a junkyard office. In nearby Clemson SC there were several BiLo's, and a springtime fraternity tradition was to steal one of the cows each year, always returning it a couple weeks later. Nobody was ever caught pulling off that prank. A&P began as the Atlantic and Pacific Tea company, only branching into groceries when a tenant in one of their warehouses went broke and they sold what was abandoned. Piggly-Wiggly stores still exist in places. Post WW2 they focused on the poor and Black communities in the segregated south which didn't have real grocery stores, and that's where the remaining locations still exist. Piggly-Wiggly invented the modern grocery store/retail shopping system with aisles and carts and a check-out line at the front as a means to reduce employees while increasing the flow of customers using smaller than usual locations. They also originated the practice of restocking displays at night with cheap part-time workers wanting an extra job while not getting in the way of daytime sales. Winn-Dixie was prolific in the south where every town of any size had one, they tried to be the first into these places thus getting the entire market there because there wasn't enough business for competitors to exist.
There are still some smaller regional chains left but the big names all came to failure after selling out to large corporations or unrelated businesses who wanted more profits and over-expanded them into ruin, or who milked them dry of money without re-investing into the business. Most of the remaining small chains are family-owned businesses or semi-independent franchises like IGA, or upscale stores instead of discount-price ones. WalMart has made it tough for them but there are still plenty of us who prefer to do business with our local grocers and always will.
Remember a few of these growing up in coastal Georgia - A&P (was in a strip mall with a Woolworths and Sears), Pantry Pride/JM Fields (you could walk from one to the other without having to go outside) and of course the Pig (Piggly Wiggly). Just about all the buildings still exist with other businesses in them now. There still exists a Piggly Wiggly on US17 in Eulonia, GA.
@@necroslair In Michigan it's boring all we have is stupid Walmart and Kroger and Meijer
@Jessica Smith Of all the grocery chains, I believe A&P was the largest geographically, though I have no knowledge of the NW and N Central states. It was certainly one of the oldest. In most of the places I know of from say 1985 and back, it was at a level above the discount chains with a larger and wider selection of top nationwide brands, which is how they could stay in a market with stiff local discount competition. Also worth mentioning is that some national chains would have only a few locations in a state where there were enough affluent people to make it viable, with there being no others.
Piggly Wiggly is still around. They do great business in many towns in Wisconsin and have built many new stores the last 20 years, although they pulled out of Iowa back in the late 70's - early 80's. We used to have Eagles stores in Iowa too. My grandmother shopped there quite a bit.
Actually, it was "The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company" as I remember. My mom used to take me to the one in downtown Greensboro, NC back in the early 50's. Like the other commenter said, I can still remember the coffee grinder and the smell of freshly ground coffee. That brings back memories. Later, in the mid seventies, I was checking out at the nearby Kroger one night after work, around midnight, and a couple came up to check out. The checkout lady didn't say a word, she just placed their five pound bag of coffee on the scale and said "there's almost ten pounds of coffee in this bag". You could see that the bag was bulging nearly to the bursting point. They had ground two bags and put all they could in one bag. The clerk didn't flinch. She made them pay per pound. She had seen that trick before. Kroger's grinder was back near the coffee, instead of up front in the store where you paid first and then ground the coffee. Kroger had a gold packed 100% Colombian coffee back then that was a store brand and was the main item that I even bought there. Man, it was good. We don't have any Kroger's in our area anymore, but from what one of the other commenters said, our Harris-Teeters are actually under Kroger's name. The Harris-Teeters here are VERY nice. I go there occasionally, but mainly go to the Walmart Neighborhood store near me and Aldi a little further away.
Ah the memories - the A & P and Food Fair! Only two stores my mother shopped at!
Remember the pickle barrel. The store doors would open, you walk in, and the other doors would open.
@@nighthiker8872 Yes the pickle barrels! I remember being so confused seeing them when I was real little. I couldn't understand what that was!
@@barbaralynch3015 I first have to ask my mom first, but I already had the pickle tongs in my hand.
@@nighthiker8872 Hahaha!
Food Fair became Pantry Pride..my father was their corporate pilot..great job...
We had a Piggly Wiggly that rebranded to Eagle when I was a kid, it's where my mom did all our grocery shopping. I don't remember the store as much as I remember the baggers. Every register had a bagger, always a guy, who would bag groceries and put them in a cart. The carts had small, numbered 'license plates' and the cashier (always a female) would write that number in black crayon on the back of the receipt. You'd go to your car, pull to the front, flash your numbered receipt and a bagger would load your groceries into your car. Today you're lucky to get a grunt of recognition, not to mention your groceries bagged.
Dominick's was my first job in Chicago many years ago, I worked in the deli for $6/hr and I thought I was rich.
Fareway foods still has baggers/caryouts at their stores.
Customer service is going to crap in this country. It's one way for a business to cut corners. Now they have self checkouts where they expect you to be a cashier. What a joke!
The more employees they have, the less theft.
When I worked at Walmart they put the self check out in. Before you know it they were arresting customers like hotcakes. That's what they get for trying to eliminate customer service
In 1984 we shopped at an Albertsons grocery store in Orlando Fla. We had our 2 month old newborn boy with us at the register. My wife and I had the baby in a carrier on the cart. All was well, but when we turned to pay for the food the bag boy took our cart and started for the door without even waiting for us. He was rather rough and pushed the cart over the small bump at the doorway. Our son fell out of the cart and his head hit the cement floor. We should have sued them for that, but we were both young and stupid. Now you know..... why stores don't allow ignorant teenagers to take your food to the car anymore. I worked nearly 4 years myself as a bag boy in Ohio, and never did anything so dumb.....but I guess... I would never try and mess with someone's cart that had a baby in it. Common sense isn't so common anymore!!!!
Dayton, Ohio here. Our family owned and operated 2 local IGA stores: Wilmington Heights South & North, both on Wilmington Pike in Kettering. My father Jim Karras managed the south store & my uncle Andy Karras the north store & brother Pete Karras helped out as well (mostly produce manager). Fond memories growing up in the 70's, 80's & 90's. Both locations closed in the late 90's with my father Jim passing away shortly later in 1997. Couldn't compete with the larger Cub Foods (Lofino' s owned), Kroger & the new kid in town Meijer who still has one of their best stores within a mile north of our South location on Wilmington Pike. People loved our fresh meats, crazy day sales & import products mostly from Greece since all my family came from Greece. Not the same now. Dot's is still around (great meats) so I would encourage everyone to shop small if you still can.
Iga still exist
Any relation to Alex Karras?
I remember a Stumps grocery in Huber Heights when I used to stay with my uncle I the early eighties
Meijer is everywhere in Michigan* but just a few here in Ohio; I've been to the fairly close new one in Seven Hills. No Krogers which seems odd as aren't they based in Cincinnati?
* only big diff is no can & bottle collecting machines; 10 centavos per container in Michigan..
I remember your stores fondly. Dayton had many small chains at one time.. Liberal,Stumps...Food Town rings a bell. Dot's is the last. Happy to hear they're opening a new store in Crosspointe. I hope it does well. I was friends with Connie Karras.
I absolutely LOATHE Walmart. Thankfully, we have HEB. I do miss the old days when grocery stores were for buying groceries, and you didn't have to hitch hike to get from one end of the store to the other.
Walmart is _BIG DOG_ ! 🛒
Yes and I equally hate the giant Kroger Markeplace stores. Do we really need to have Starbucks, a liquor store, a bank, a clinic, a wine-tasting center and clothing all in a grocery store? Like a modern phone, the original function is now a minor aspect. Of course they do the Walmart thing of having only 1 door open but the only open registers are a mile away at the other end of the store with long lines. Then you have to hike back to the open door to get to your car. It takes longer to deal with the obstacles than it does to select your groceries.
@@jamesdennis2058 ...I remember back in 1960s here in Northern Virginia Giant Food grocery stores had clothing section in their stores. Someone in that company got smart did away with selling clothing in a grocery store.
@Charles Jan - We have a Kroger here where the back aisle is so long you can barely see the other end of it... Kroger does a $Billion in business WEEKLY!
Yes, Walmart is a dept. store... Super Walmarts have full blown supermarkets inside as well. Walton family owners are all $Billionaires...
The HEBs that I've been in were as big as Walmart; some are bigger!
Very nice man, I worked as a manager at Bi Lo in the 80's and 90's. I was surprised when they just .. well.. were gone, Food lion and KJ's bought them here, I was so glad I documented the exterior and wish I got the interior but I washtub expecting them to vanish. I started in grocery retail in 1985, let me tell you, so much has changed and greed is overwhelming in the industry today. Great story man, brought back some memories.
Everyone thought BiLo was doing well even after Ahold bought them; it was the last surviving large discount grocery chain in the SE and without competition. It's collapse surprised us all. I remember in the early 60's my grandmother gathering us kids to carry groceries for her from BiLo #1 where she spent $1 per paper bag full, and still had money to buy us candy for helping. That store is now a junkyard office and still has the signature "BiLo Cow" mounted on the roof. Frank Outlaw's home still sits by the Saluda river visible from the road but almost nobody knows it's significance anymore. It's part of Greenville SC area's history and will never be forgotten here
When the family moved to St. Louis in 1965, the major stores were A&P and Kroger. Others included National Foods, Bettendorf-Rapp, Safeway, IGA, TomBoy and two smaller, local stores, Schnucks and Dierbergs. Today, the two local stores dominate the market. A&P dissolved in 2017, though it's IP is active. Kroger left STL in 1985. Chicago-based National was acquired by Canadian-based Loblaws, then shuttered in the early 90's. An employee-owned revival only lasted a year or two. Schnucks bought Bettendorf-Rapp from American Stores in 1970, launching their expansion. They acquired some assets from both Kroger and National as they closed, then acquired about half Supervalu's Shop 'n Save stores when UNFI bought out Supervalu in 2019 and started liquidating their retail. Safeway pulled out of much of the Midwest in the 70's and is now part of Albertsons. There are a few IGA's left, but mostly in rural towns. Minneapolis-based Supervalu had purchased the local IGA distributor in 1979, starting the Shop 'n Save brand here. TomBoy faded from view; it's smaller, neighborhood stores couldn't compete. Dierbergs started as one store in 1856 and has expanded to 26, all in metro STL. Schnucks has around 115 stores in four states. Both are still family-owned. Kroger returned to the market a few years ago with it's Ruler Foods small-format, discounted house-brand stores. At least one is in a store they abandoned as a Kroger nearly 40 years ago. And then there's Wallyworld and Target, along with Whole Paycheck Foods, Fresh Thyme and discounters Aldi (1979) and Save a Lot (1978), which is based in STL. Lidl has not expanded this far west, yet.
I haven't seen an IGA in decades.
Last IGA in my part of southern IL closed and family Dollar is moving in that will no longer have single grocery story at all . but hay that 10$ or small bag sugar . there a Schnucks few block from me carbondale IL that got high prices to but also have good cookies we have 2 walmart close by and Korger and small Co-op Small store it like heath foods place and Internatonal store where one ladies charge what she feel like bases on your skin color she hate most people . So i go Korgar or Walmart mostly i don't feel like getting tooken to cleaners by Schnucks on a lot things
I live in South Carolina and I sure do miss Bi-Lo. They had great stuff at reasonable prices. I frequented the one in Cayce while in college. I hate that it was Food Lion that bought a lot of the remaining stores here in S.C. as I find them to be a inferior grocery store.
They did the same in NC. I miss bi/lo too. Too many food lions.
I just found out they closed. Haven’t been down to my Condo in SC since the pandemic until now and found out they closed up. Used to love that place. Had a great deli section and used to pick up food before hitting the beach.
Let me guess….bi high, sell lo.
My college biology teacher used to call Food Lion Food Monster. I believe
there was a Colonial Grocery store at Lenox Sq. In the '60s. My older brother once worked there. There was talk about putting a grocery store at Cumberland Mall in Cobb Co., Ga. not too long as if it was a new idea. A&P, Big Star, and Bruno's were here too. We slso had Winn-Dixie and Harris-Teeter. No Piggly Wiggly near me, but there was one in Savannah and later in Decatur. I thought Kohl's was a dept. store. Are they related? I like the Publix near me better than Kroger-too woke.
Moved to Charlotte in 1979, I remember some of the Bi-Lo stores still had the fiber glass cow on the roof
Giant Open Air, Cousin's, Carousel, Community Pride, Siegle's, Two Guys, Ukrop's, Farm Fresh...
I remember Big Star and Pantry Pride from my younger childhood years in the early ‘80s and of course A&P is another one. This video really stirred up some nostalgia for me.
Thanks for Watching!
I loved A&P's coffee. The store I went to was on Pulaski & 79th Street in Chicago. Back in the 50's & 60's that area where I lived was very nice and safe. Now it is a complete slum and many of the once nice houses are rundown dumps. Very SAD.
@Leroy Smith
A&P bought out Pathmark and then went bankrupt.
Richfood stores
Please don’t blame minorities for what happened
I love 8 o' clock coffee
I still get A&P's coffee (8'o'clock) from Amazon on line. I won't drink anything else. I'm from old Chicago too.
As a Baltimorean, I can tell you that Mars is not forgotten. Many of us miss it terribly.
Thanks for Watching! While doing research, seems like a lot of people were loyal shoppers of the chain.
I moved out the area years ago. So the Mars in Timonium is gone?
@Jessica Smith Hello Jessica,
I drove up York Rd from the Towson are to Cockeysville a couple of years ago. It has changed alot but in the same way it still looks the same from when I was a Towson resident back in the early to mid 90s.
@Jessica Smith Do you still live in that area?
@Jessica Smith What state are you looking to move?
I work at Food Lion. We acquired a dozen BILO employees. They are good people, plus their shoppers. I had no idea they changed their stores names. I used to work at Lowes Foods before coming back to Food Lion. I've been here almost eight years. I started working there back in 2000. So altogether I've been with Food Lion for almost fourteen years.
I remember when Food Lion was called Food Town back in the late 70s- early 80s, think they changed their name when the moved into Virginia because there was already store called Food Town there
@@willielarimer7170 Yes I remember Food Town. That's where my parents shopped. When I was ten we moved into my grandpa's house and Food Town was almost next door to my elementary school. I would walk to school.
When I was very young, we had the Iowa Pork Shops in Long Beach, CA. They had a real butcher, bought some of their fruit and veg from local truck farmers, and the bakery was excellent. Bags of flour, not junk brought in by Sysco, etc.
I actually worked for an Alabama based chain called Delchamps. It started as a family run store in Mobile, AL in 1921. At its peak, we were at 118 stores before acquisition by Jitney Jungle stores in Jackson, MS in 1997. We kept our name on our stores till Jitney’s bankruptcy in early 2000
I remember Food Fair, Pantry Pride and A&P in Connecticut. We also had Waldbaums, Shopwell, Basics and Pathmark plus who knows what else. Love seeing all the old cars in the parking lots.
Thanks I couldn't remember Waldbaums. Shopwell Grand Union and Gristedes
I was just a kid in the 60's living in Pittsburgh. But I remember the A&P Stores near my house! Those were the days!
@Greg...My parents shopped at A&P grocery store every Friday evening back in 1960s after dad had gone to the bank cashed his weekly paycheck. First in Fairfax, Virginia then in Herndon, Virginia.
@@rachelc.5463 Hope you had a lot of good memories as a child like I did!
I'm from there. Mt Washington. We had an A&P, Kroger, Fooderama & a Thorofare back then.
@@TheBigjohn527 I lived in Beltzhoover!!!!!! Use to go watch the fireworks on those rickety wooden overlooks!!!!! I went to South Hills 73 to 77!
It was either A&P or Grand Union that had the S&H Green Stamps. I rember filling up the green stamp books with stamps to use to "buy" things. Im from a small town in the Adirondack Miuntains in Upstate NY and we had both Grand Union and A&P grocery stores operating at the same time.
I think A&P had plaid stamps,,,
@@hondotoo You're probably right, definitely not S&H Green Stamps.
One time driving to my uncle's house a few hours away in the bible belt we saw some graffiti. It was a billboard that someone had added to the message:
"Jesus Saves" ... _Green Stamps_
@@hondotoo I kept watching, at 14:17 is your Plaid proof.
I noticed it after I picked up my jaw from seeing 3 lbs of ground beef for $1.35 in the window!
Those were the best years of growing up and proud to have such grocery stores like in the south we had A&P, Winn Dixie in which they gave you the s&h green stamp that you put in a booklet to either order something out of their catalog or we could cash in the booklet for cash
We all had Community Cash that gave out Top Value stamps along with the booklets same thing as far as ordering from the catalog or cash them in for cash. We also had piggy wiggly and Acme and Harris Teeter. The 8 o'clock coffee at A&P had that rich aroma that you can smell through the store and probably the best grocery stores that had reasonable prices and everyone there treated you like family. I really miss those good ole days and was proud to be bought up in those days where you got more than your money worth.
@@cowboybob7093 yeah, good one!
Good afternoon. I really liked your video. Super fresh was another store that wasn't mentioned.
Thanks for watching 😂. Great Suggestion!
Keep up the great work and have a nice day
Still can’t believe Bi-lo is gone that was one of the best grocery stores in the Carolina’s.
The Bi-Lo I worked at had a manager that ran the store into the ground. He got rid of the old time employees and disrespected customers. One customer got stung by a hornet because there was a nest by the door manager did nothing then managers son was riding a scooter in store and hit an old lady. If I didn't know better I'd swear they sent the jerk in to sabotage store
@@willielarimer7170 in Northwest Indiana we used to have a chain of grocery stores called Buy-Low. obviously not related to the stores you're talking about. they also went out of business. don't know why they were always real busy.
@@danielthoman7324 just like the Bi-Lo I worked at the buy low you shopped at was probably bought out. We have a local company here called Harris Teeter, they were bought out by Kroger
I'm in Georgia & we have Bi-Lo grocery stores.
We had a bi- lo in Houston back in the 60s and 70s ....good ole days....gone forever...🤔🤔🤔...
I remember Alpha Beta and shopped there once or twice as a child in the Oxnard, CA area. I used to love shopping at Lucky Stores as an adult in Northern California.
I fondly remember shopping at Alpha Beta with my mom as a youngster in Upland, CA. I also remember Lucky’s and Ralph’s Supermarkets as well. Great Memories!
I remember when Alpha Beta had Susanne Sommers husband/ manager, Alan Hamel as their spokesperson in their television ads back in the ‘80s.
@@jamessatterfield7667 Now that is a real memory - yes!
Skaggs Alpha Beta was our go to grocery store in Tulsa when I was a kid. It seemed like they had everything. I still remember most of their locations too. Still a great time to be a kid.
Growing up and still living in Newark, NJ, I remember only two grocery stores from my childhood... A&P and FoodTown (which both went bye-bye). Later, we had PathMark (which is also gone now). ShopRite, Super Fresh, Walmart, and Extra are the biggest supermarkets now, but we do have a few smaller markets with decent products and prices...
I didn't know there were still Super Fresh stores open anywhere now. Most Super Fresh stores were old A & P stores. A & P sold a number of locations including most of the Pennsylvania stores to their employees' union who renamed those A & P stores, Super Fresh. This happened in 82 or 83. Sadly, most of those stores got bought by the Philadelphia based super market Genuardi's in the early 2000s. About 10 years later Genuardi's got sold to Safeway not long after that. Then in the early 2010s they were sold to Giant who rebranded all of the old Genuardi's to Giant and closed a bunch of the stores closer to Philly for good. I still see abandoned A & P's when I travel through Western NJ close to the PA border.
I was surprised to find out that there are five Foodtowns left in NJ. Two of them art not to far from you. And there's one last Foodtown left in Brooklyn promising to make a comeback. All I have are Acmes around me.
I remember Shop Rite as a kid in NJ ,Also chicken delight .
In Ironbound Newark we now got Seabras
a&p purchase farmer jack great barbeque chicken & potatoe salids
I remember when I would visit my grandparents in LA, sometimes my grandpa would mention that we had to go to "the Alpha Beta" and then pull up to a Food 4 Less. Now that makes a lot more sense...
Oh my gosh, I remember some of these. Growing up in Washington state we had an A&P not far from the house which my parents always shopped at. When that left we switched to the Lucky grocery store down the road and I also remember a Prairie Market in another city close by. A bit south of us near a friend's house was a Piggly Wiggly and I also remember shopping at Alpha Beta when I visited friends in California. WOW, great memories but all those stores are gone now. Thanks for the informative video.
Very interesting video. I would love to know more about the IGA grocery stores and the The Sunflower Food Stores grocery.
IGA still exists, but they're all now franchise stores locally owned and locally run as they see fit with little overall corporate control. More of a buyer's association to get better wholesale prices on some items than they could individually.
The Independent Grocers Alliance dates to 1926 in Chicago. They are a cooperative wholesaler-franchiser which sells to retailers and provides cooperative advertising under the IGA banner. IGA did own some stores, but after two bankruptcies, no longer. Much like today's Wakefern Group (ShopRite and several other Northeastern brands), and Piggly Wiggly, which franchises in much of the Southeast and Upper Midwest, but is based at C&S wholesalers in New Hampshire.
There is a iga store in TN. Locally owned as someone said
Great video! I didn’t know so many of these chains lasted as long as they did. I also didn’t know that Kohl’s Food Stores was the same Kohl’s as…well, Kohl’s!
Thank You! Kohl's Food Stores did catch me by a surprise as well.
@@undergroundretail do you remember Piggly Wiggly?
@@christophernicholson20 The Pig is alive and well.
Kohl's was owned by the Senator, Herb Kohl. He sold it, retired and became a politician. He was good at it, only served two terms and retired again. The Kohl's department store is a different owner I believe.
Great Scotts.
We had 3 Alpha Beta’s, 3 Mayfair’s and a couple of ThriftyMarts with the big red “T” on the top of the store. Most of these stores i have never heard of. Great video…thank you
My first job was at Alpha Beta, Store #12, Anaheim, CA, corner of East and Lincoln, early 1970s.
I worked at Alpha Beta #3 in Pomona, CA when I was in high school in 67/68. I made $1.76 an hour. Alpha Beta was founded in Pomona.
My First job was at A & P Food Stores on General Meyer Ave. in Lower Coast of Algiers, when I was 16! (Worked
"Bottle Sorter" -separated the Coca Cola, Pepsi, R.C. bottles). Worked my way up to Stock Boy, Warehouse Receiving,etc.. Started out making .25 cents an hour in 1966, to almost $3.20 an hour in 1980!!! W. Joseph Gordon
There was a Dominick's store in Vernon Hills IL , outside of Hawthorn Mall.
It was well known as a great place to meet / see members of the Chicago Bears NFL team.
As a kid I met William "Refrigerator" Perry , Dan Hampton , Steve McMichael , Jim McMahon , Willie Gault , and Jeff Fisher at this store lol.
I used to work at Lake Forest Hospital, and Mondays were always fun because you had at least 1 or 2 Chicago Bears coming in for x-rays. 😊🏈
Dad worked for A&P as a semi loader his entire life. Of course we shopped there too. In Wisconsin we also had a Red Owl Store not far down the street. Oh the good old days. ❤
In the 1970s, I grew up in Orlando, Florida, with several grocery store chains. This city had T.G. & Y., Pantry Pride, A&P, Piggly Wiggly, Food Lion, and other smaller food chains. Eventually, they were bought out or went bankrupt. The stores that survived are Publix, Winn Dixie, Albertsons, and Wal-Mart. Since my father was a veteran, my mother and I would shop at the McCoy Air Force Base's grocery store. We also would shop at the base's P.X. (Public Exchange) store, similar to a drug store. Buying groceries at those stores meant you did not have to pay sales tax, and they were a lot cheaper than the other stores.
I still remember the old cashier's machines with all those buttons the cashier had to press for each transaction by hand. There were no bar codes on the packaging or a scanner to ring the items up. Computerized cashier machines and scanners in grocery stores did not start until the late 1970s or the early 1980s. Even credit card transactions were done by hand, too. The cashier had to look up the card number in a book to ensure the card was not stolen or canceled. It's funny now, but Master Card was called Master Charge, and Visa was called BankAmericard. It wasn't until the names were changed as they are now in the mid-1970s. Technology has made shopping a lot easier.
Had TGnY in Cali too. Miss that store....next to an Alpha Beta supermarket.
Watched the video and thought "What about Acme?" They closed left and right in northern PA and upstate NY in the '70s. Come to find out they are alive and well. Couldn't tell you the last time I saw one. 🤔
Definitely miss A&P. They were on Main Street of almost every small town when I was a kid.
Acme is holding their own in the Philadelphia area but are being given a run for their money by Shop Rite and Giant. I now live in NE Pennsylvania and the closest Acme to me is 40 miles away in New Jersey. The largest Shop Rite in the United States is in a small town, Broadheadsville, twenty minutes from me.
Acme still operates and is part of Albertsons.
As a high schooI student in the 1960s' I worked part-time for both A&P (stocked shelves) and Food Fair Stores (cashier) in Dumont and Bergenfield, NJ. I have very fond memories of the stores and the managers. At both stores the managers made sure that the floors were clean, the shelves stocked properly, and the produce, dairy, and meat departments organized and spotless. While the A&P in Dumont was a small store the Food Fair in Bergenfield was huge, for its time. You had to be 16 to work at the A&P and 17 at Food Fair plus they paid $00.20 more per hour. Your video brought back some very pleasant memories. Thank you.
I worked at Kohl's Grocery stores. Max Kohl started with a Produce stand on a Milwaukee street corner. In 72 Max retired and left the chain to his sons Herb and Allen. In 74' the sold controlling interest to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. I left their employ to join the Army soon after. But I remember the brothers well. It was a real good place to work.
This is really good information!
In Philadelphia, PA back in the 1950s we had Penn Fruit, Food Fair, A&P and Acme Markets. After Food Fair had problems, they converted to Pantry Pride, as you indicated. Penn Fruit became Dale's. A&P became Super Fresh. A latecomer was Pathmark. We also had a CWM (Consumer's Warehouse Markets) whose big claim to fame was that they sold Grade B eggs dirt cheap. Shop Rite was also a latecomer. The one currently in my Frankford neighborhood used to be a Food Fair, I think. Your video brought back a lot of good memories. Thanks.
@John J Devlin...I remember Acme Market being in Princeton, West Virginia. My parents rarely shopped there I believe their prices were higher than Kroger and A&P. So my parents shopped at A&P in town.
Grade B eggs sounds scary... never seen them...
@John J Devlin.....my Mom worked at the Food Fair at Tulip and Allegheny and later at Pantry Pride on Aramingo Ave.
@@patriciacullen7328 Ah, Port Richmond. How well I remember. We used to take my grandmother to Czerw's to get kielbasa.
A&P, Pathmark and SuperFresh were all banners under A&P.
Everyone loved A&P. It' interesting that at least two of their brands live on, Eight O'clock coffee and Jane Parker fruitcake. Growing up in the A&P era I can say that one thing killed A&P and that was not understanding the need to compete on price. They would advertise they had lowered prices and people would return to find they had actually raised prices.
@Charles Jan Your comment leads me to believe that the A&P name still has potential value even after being out of business for some years. The right people with an Aldi style store plan might potentially bring the company back.
@@marklynch8781 - A&P name may have $Billions in debt attached to it...
We had two nice big Giant Eagle Supermarkets, an east coast chain I believe, here in Toledo, Ohio, but high prices... raw beef steak up to $25/lb... lasted about 3 - 5 years around here... we also have Kroger, Walmart, and Meijer's... one store left of Churchill's mini chain (cousins to Winston Churchill)... The Anderson's stores shut down... Food Town gone... Farmer Jack gone... Edwards gone... Kash & Karry gone... Joseph's gone... Bassett's gone... A&P gone... Cub's Foods gone...
I still love Eight O'clock coffee! In the early - mid 70's, as a little boy, my great grandma would let me help her grind it. I was fascinated by the aroma, and the grinder, whirring away. Good times!
@@boballmendinger3799 you can still get 8o' clock coffee at Walmart they sell the whole bean regular and Colombian target sells the 8o' clock ground coffee
In Charlotte I worked at A&P for 5 years, and BI-LO for 5 years also . The last BI-LO to close on Charlotte turned into a urban air trampoline park
The one by me in Charlotte was turned into movie/restaurant.
@@janicedonahue7084 I worked at the one in Mint Hill near Independence high school. Which store was changed into movie / restaurant?
The one on Prosperity Church Road in University area.
@@janicedonahue7084 sad thing is that one was practically new just like the one on McKee road opened for a couple of years then closed
I used to live on Chicago Ave near Damen Blvd. when I was a kid. On the corner was a cigar shop then there was a small music store, next was a huge furniture store. Next to that was the gem of the neighborhood....A & P !!!! All this was across the street from my house!!! All the stores were all lit up at night. Just beautiful. Now all that's gone, very sad, but good memories. Peace and Love ☮️❤️
In southern California, we had a chain grocery store called Von's that was akin to Lucky, Alpha Beta, etc. The one in Van Nuys was open 24 hours. Could still be there, but I'm not :D. We also had a k-mart style style store with groceries and some home goods called Gemco.
Grew up in the 60s-70s. My mom shopped Lucky even though there was an Albertson's and Alpha Beta closer. Don't know why the preference.
THERE WAS ALSO A MARKET BASKET IN COVINA, CALIFORNIA ON SAN BERNARDINO ROAD AND AZUSA AVE. DID YOU KNOW?
I remember Von's now that I saw the name here.
@@meloniejensen4092 in Hacienda heights too, where the blockbuster used to be.
Vons, pavilions and pavilions place....all still exist. They were bought by Safeway, but are now owned by Albertsons. But yeah, they are still around
The ones you mentioned I remember as well Gemco’s Fedco’s Alpha Beta, also remember ABC and Boy’s market as well
I REALLY miss A&P stores. The smell of fresh ground coffee when you walked in was so inviting. Their private label brands were the equal to or better than national brands. Jane Parker, Ann Page, Eight O'clock, Bokar to name a few.
I still miss the A&P (and Ben Franklin's) that I'd visit as a kid. And, for that matter, K Mart, Publix, and EJ Korvettes. ...To be honest, I was just as fascinated by the old cars in this vid!
We shopped at A&P all the time when I was young and many an allowance dollar went to the Ben Franklin a couple of doors down from the grocery store. Great memories and I miss the stores.
we had a ben franklins when i was a kid early 80s in iowa. but it burned down. thats where i got my transformer toys
❤️ farmrr jacks potatoes salids & barbeque cjicken;; remembrt kovette in meyro detroit ,;; we had A&P & farmer jacks ; kovettes too couple of them
I miss A&P. A&P was North New Jersey based, and in its stores there carried products of interest to people of Dutch ancestory, that were and are near impossible to get else where. Mainly Leiden cheese (cheese flavored with cumin and containing cumin seeds) and ultra cured slab bacon. The coffee roasting business was sold and A&P coffee is sold in other chains. Some parts of A&P still operate under different names. A thing that killed A&P was that it bought out other supermarket chains that were in worse shape than they were.
Michigan. A&P stamps, and the pickle barrel.
8 o'clock coffee was sold....A&P ceased existing in November of 2015 with ZERO of its stores existing. ACME bought a lot of there old locations in the eastern US but have no connections to A&P after that. The naming rights to A&P were purchased by a group and now sell coffee and tea online. They have a Instagram page as well.
I think you can still buy 8 O'clock Coffee at 7-11.
Growing up in Freeport in the 60's I remember there were three major chain supermarkets-A&P;Henke and Pilat*(*Now Kroger) and Weingarten's.
A&P gave out Plaid Stamps;Henke and Pilat gave out Top Value Stamps and Weingarten's gave out Big Bonus Stamps.
BTW:If anyone on here who grew up in the Houston/Southeast Texas area in the 60's please post a comment on here.
I'd love to remininesce about what it was like growing up back then.
@@johnpatterson4816 Freeport, what state!
I can STILL SEE the green stamps and people waiting in line to turn them in for a gift.
When I was little, we shopped at A&P. I remember my grandmother grinding the 8 O'clock coffee mmmm. My first job was at a Thorofare Supermarket
Loved helping my mom fill the A&P stamp books and shopping there
I hope you do a part 2 of this .
Thanks for Watching 😃. It’s always a possibility for one to happen.
@@undergroundretail If you do try to include "Community Cash" and, to a lesser degree, "Hannaford's". Oh wait, the latter is still around.
Most people used A&P as a convenience store, buying only loss leaders. They were far more expensive than the surrounding competing supermarkets. Instead of cutting prices, they would send "specialists" to rearrange the store and cut benefits for the workers. (My friend worked there) I read in the paper that the CEO was making a lot of money. No surprise they closed.
A friend of mine worked for Kohl's in Milwaukee and after A&P took over it began the real slide. He was manager at 2 inner city stores and had to fight tooth and nail to stock it with items blacks wanted. He had to do some slight of hand moves and order from outside vendors and this store had one of the better profit margins. He and most of the staff were speedy catching shoplifters and he even hired a few who turned out to be good employees. Sadly near the end he had the distinction of closing six of the last stores.
I'm happy the Piggly Wiggly is still open!
For now I work in the grocery business and have seen a lot of them converting to other stores.
My brother in law managed an A&P in Jacksonville in the 70's. I did not know him until the 80's as he was quite a bit older than me and my sister who he married. I do remember that the A&P we had semi locally was pretty dinky, and no match for Winn-Dixie or even Pantry Pride. He always said the downfall there was paying union wages and that they did not adopt the supermarket model quicker. I miss Pantry Pride, and to a far lesser extent BI-LO which I experienced in the Carolinas later.
The true downfall was poor corporate management especially after the germans bought it.
What about Grand Union?
The Dominick's Photo with the 2 Di Mateo's was the opening of the Park Ridge location at 1300 Dempster St. in 1961.
Park Ridge, Harrison Ford grew up there.
I lived in Lagrange and Hinsdale in the 1970s.
I remember A&P and Pantry Pride. I remember going to them in the early 1970's.
I, have worked in retail for 39 years, and I am now retired from Meijer, which is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I, hope you do a part 2 of this video.
I shop at Meijer now. 93rd and Western, Chicago.
@@Imissyoulou I,retired from the Meijer located on 23 Mile Road and Gratiot in Chesterfield,Michigan.
Pathmark was a large grocery chain in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Great place to shop in the 70s.
Check out Part 2. for Pathmark 😃 th-cam.com/video/dFpwlJ2tAdg/w-d-xo.html
The stores I remember that are no longer around are IGA's, Dominick's, Certified Grocery and a mom-and-pop store called "Guido's". It was either in Melrose Park or Carol Stream. Once big corporations took over most of the local stores, the quality and variety went downhill. Even Jewel/Osco (originally The Jewel Tea and Coffee Company) lost it's unique Chicago "flavor" and became very middle of the road. I remember the great promo's grocery stores used to have like Green Stamps or the lesser-known Plaid Stamps. They also had give aways. You'd get a card and every time you spent X number of dollars you got a little star or sticker. Once you filled up a card-or more than one card, you could redeem them at the customer service desk for dishes, small appliances like toasters or electric can openers and sets of glasses or silverware.
I grew up in a small town in Louisiana. There was a Stanley Super D, Piggly Wiggly and Big Star. All are gone now and replaced by Wal Mart and a Market Basket.
There is a Big Star in Farmerville, and a Piggly Wiggly in Homer
My mama loved shopping at A&P when its location in Thomasville, NC was open, and it was shut down along with all of the other A&P stores here in North Carolina.
@Benji Martin...My parents always shopped at A&P back in 1960s first at Princeton, West Virginia then after we moved to Northern Virginia at Fairfax then Herndon.
We shopped at Pantry Pride on Davie Blvd in Fort Lauderdale in the late 60's, seemed like a nice place to shop and they sold a brand of soda called Golden Age we all loved.
I haven’t heard that name in many years. There used to be one in Bridgeport, CT one town over from where I grew up.
I miss A&P I grew up knowing this store they used to be one on Chicago Avenue in Chicago I missed it so much my grandmother and everybody used to go to the amp also missed the Green Stamps back in the days love it
All those stamps I put in books.Our first tv tables.
I live in South Georgia and there are still a few Piggly Wiggly & IGA grocery stores around. I also remember my parents shopping at J.M. Fields and Pantry Pride in the 70's (i remember the plain black & white labels on many products), and as a young woman in the early 80's I shopped at A&P sometimes.
Another native Baltimorean here who remembers MARS supermarket. Very few knew just where the name came from. Was it named for the planet Mars? Did the letters stand for something? They had their own store brands and we're always busy, as I recall, sadly, as you said, this family-owned chain outlived the family and the younger ones sold out.
I worked for A&P in Georgia and Alabama back in the late 90's. Helped close down 3 stores. Worked for Foodmax, which was part of Bruno's, also in the 90s and helped shut down the store I worked at. Finding out your store is closing and you won't have a job is not a happy feeling. When I worked at Foodmax, I was part of the night stock crew. Got a call during the day saying don't come in tonight, meeting in the morning. I asked why, the boss said, "We're closing". My half awake self said "We close every night!" Found out it was permemantly . It's also very very strange watching a grocery store slowly becoming empty as the closing process continues.
There were stores, gas stations, and restaurants around here that were open 24 hours... when they finally shut down, nobody knew where the keys were for the doors...
You must be from Milledgeville Georgia?
@@66seattle No, at the time I lived in Columbus, GA.
When I was a kid we had an A&P in Mableton, GA
When I lived in Chicago, the grocery stores my parents bought at were Jewel, A&P, High-Low, & another store, in Arlington Heights Illinois where I moved to in 67, we shopped at Jewel, my mom really liked Dominick's better, Alpha Beta I remember a lot in California, I believe that Suzanne Somers hubby Alan Hamel used to advertise for Alpha Beta, also in Arlington Heights, we had a couple of Eagle grocery stores by me, we'd shop there on occasion, so it's very interesting to watch these videos & find stuff that I can relate to considering that it was part of my formative years
Thanks for watching! High-Low stores are a great suggestion and just did some research on that chain. Most of the stores on this list never really made it to the South, but I have only been in a BI-LO store and A&P. Surprisingly "Ingles Grocery Stores" are still holding on by a thread in my area. We can say that they are the "K-Mart of Grocery Stores."
Check out some of my other videos as well! I cover Drug Stores, Book Stores, Department Stores, and Electronic Stores.
Finally someone that remembers High-Low. That's where we got our high-low wagon. Loved that store as a kid. They had sandwich cookies for a dime with 15 cookies. You could buy one stick of butter or six eggs.A lot of people couldn't afford a whole dozen or four sticks of butter.Liver on sale was 29 cents for a pound.It was in the Hometown shopping plaza on southwest highway.
For several years during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hamel was a commercial pitchman for American Stores, a coast-to-coast chain of supermarkets. Specifically, he did advertisements for Alpha Beta stores in the western United States, and also appeared in occasional spots for Acme Markets in the northeastern United States.
I was born in 53 and I remember my grandmother (who lived with us & did all the shopping) going to A&P, Colonial, Kroger and Big Apple. In the 60s a Piggly Wiggly opened in our hometown.
I currently buy my groceries at my local Piggly Wiggly which is owned by Food Giant. A lot of history in the video.
@@zzeus43 There was a Piggly Wiggly in Temple until '97 or '98.Scott and White Hospital bought it and turned it into a clinic.
@@zzeus43 There are two Piggly Wiggly supermarkets in Texas:
One in Athens and one in Paris.
My first job was as a cashier at Finast. I just worked there for a summer when in High School. The next year I left for college and the store moved into an empty discount department store space next door and rebranded as Edwards Food Warehouse. This was back in 1983-1984 in southern NH.
I liked Finast
When my family lived in the northeast, we would alternate between A&P and Grand Union, sometimes the choice was based on whether we needed GU's SSS Blue stamps or A&P's Plaid stamps... 🙂🤔😄
Colonial Stores! The only store my parents shopped at when I was a kid in the 1960s. In the 70s, they became Big Star (and now I know why)!
I started working part time at a Big Star in 1966 when I turned 16 as a bagger then a cashier then overnight stocker all in 3 yrs.....really enjoyed it then joined the military in 1970. We have Walmart now, IGA, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Kings Red & White, Whole Food, Aldi and mom and pop places around the area here in NC probably others I don't even know about....... cheers :)
@@leonard5606 You missed Ingles, a family-owned NC business whose niche is in serving smaller towns where places like Walmart are unsustainable and upscale pricier grocers like Publix are unwanted.
@@P_RO_ Never heard of Ingles but I think there is a Publix somewhere around Raleigh maybe more than one but I don't care much about those expensive stores.....Walmart/Food Lion is fine for my needs. If I lived in Goldsboro I'd probably do all my shopping on base anyways....not that cheap but maybe save a penny or two..... cheers :)
One chain in the New York area from about the 1880's until the 1970's was a chain called Bohack's. They even appeared in the original movie version of The Odd Couple, where Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar shows a woman how to test a cantaloupe for ripeness!
I remember Food Fair,Pantry Pride,A&P,Bi-Lo,and Alpha Beta well.
Thanks for watching! You already know half of the stores on this list 😀.
Shopped at a Family Dollar this week, in what is a very old strip of stores. You can tell it used to be a grocery store 60 or 70 years ago, and the lot across the road has the foundation footprint of what must have been a huge shopping center. Just a flat lot now. And sure enough, I noticed today the street is still called Colonial Drive. Big Star was a big deal when I was a kid. We had a friend who called it Biggie Star. Miss Winn-Dixie. They had some amazing house brand products. And I really liked their no-frills Saverite sub-brand stores. It was ahead of its time.
The best part of this video is looking at all of those great looking 50's and 60's cars in the parking lots.
I can think of many MI based chains that have gone by the wayside like VG’s, Glen’s, and D&W, now owned by SpartanNash, Felpausch rebranded to Family Fare after being purchased by SpartanNash, and Farmer Jack’s. I’m sure there could be more in MI, but I started working in the state as a food manufacturer rep in 2009.
In Indiana we lost Marsh Supermarkets as the latest and a couple that I can think of earlier that were purchased by Kroger are Scott’s, Owens, Pay-Less, and Jay-C stores. Rogers was a local group to Fort Wayne. Mr D’s and O’Malia’s were in the Indianapolis area with Marsh purchasing many of the O’Malia’s stores.
I’m sure there are more in these two states and I did see that someone mentioned Big Bear over in OH. Then there has been Fresh Encounters that has purchased groups in OH.
Love the video as a 35 year grocery veteran.
I grew up in Michigan and I remember shopping at A&P, IGA and Eberhards
@@laurafranich4807 Also in Michigan, Wrigleys, Packers and Big Bear.
Yep and former Food Town from Toledo, Ohio/southern Michigan area... 33 Food Town Supermarkets and 17 The Pharm drugstores in the chain plus Seaway Distributing to supply them... was sold off to Spartans Foods... which closed them after a year... although 3 independent Food Towns popped back up...
I missed Bi-Lo when I was living in Greenville, SC. They were everywhere.
I can't believe you left Schwegmann's Giant Supermarket off this list. They were by far the dominant grocery chain in metro New Orleans and SE Louisiana. And when they said Giant, they mean it. The store was huge, almost twice bigger than other grocery stores. Everyone in the New Orleans area missed Schwegmann's!
Yep, I learned to drive in the schwegmanns parking lot on the west bank. Good times.
Remember some of them had a bar😂
Throughout my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, my hometown had a Jewel, National, A&P, and Eagle grocery store at one time or another. Jewel-Osco is the only survivor, along with a Sunset Foods (local IL chain) that came to town about 15 years ago. I liked the cool architecture of the Kohl's grocery stores, though they closed not too long after I discovered them.
Mars really began growing when Pantry Pride pulled out of Baltimore in 1982. They had 19 stores at their peak, mostly on the east side of town. One of the assets that they acquired from Pantry Pride was their Baltimore warehouse, and they began to do their own distribution. 5 stores were sold to Weis, 2 have become Lidls and one has become a Best Buy, most of the rest sit empty. I miss them. Reasonable prices, good sales and no card.
Retro grocery store greetings from coastal Mississippi. Piggly Wiggly, A&P, Winn Dixie
I remember being a little girl going food shopping at the Pantry Pride on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia. I think it closed and became an A&P.
Interesting! Is that building still standing?
If you grew up in the Philly area, you certainly remember Food Fair, Pantry Pride and A&P. Back in the 60's..I think it was Food Fair...when my parents shopped there, they were given race cards for the horse races that were shown on local TV on Saturday nights. If the card and horse were winners, you received the prize money for the win. Sadly, though our family played for several years, we never won a thing! In later years, there was Shop 'n Bag, Thriftway, SuperFresh. But, the ole' reliable Acme still exists and there are just a few stores in Jersey that still maintain the almost-original design and decor of the original Acmes of the 60's (those gigantic faux pieces of fruit on the store's walls...Lol).
Growing up in North Central PA in the 70s, our main grocery chains were: Weis, A&P, Super Duper, Acme, IGA and Giant. Only a few of those names exist. And in 50 mile radius, only one of those stores still exist in the same exact location....Weis Markets on Old Lycoming Road in Williamsport, PA.
I remember A&P, and Super Duper from the same time, in western PA.
I started at piggly wiggly and now I work at and a lot of the old heads bring up food world and Bruno’s, I honestly love hearing the stories.
My Mom an Grandparents shopped A ,P. My Grandparents loved the apple pie in the "see through pannel"! I ,on the other hand and being a boy, LOVED the empty box bin! Man I could've played half the day there!
Very well researched video. I would love to see a show on Giant Eagle, Glass Block, Bon Marche' and May Company ( all US stores). If you can also do a show including Canadian stores like Food City, Towers, Sayvette, Woolco and Sam the Record Man. That would be truly awesome.
Didn't mention Grand Union or Kwik check. I think they were owned by Winn Dixie. Skaggs Albertson's also.
Check out Part 2. for some of those stores 😃 th-cam.com/video/dFpwlJ2tAdg/w-d-xo.html
We need these supermarket chains to return. There prices were economical and affordable.... Walmart is running a monopoly on the supermarket industry... there prices are unreasonable and some of the quality of the foods is subpar...
Exactly 💯
I shop at Safeway
And make sure it's not outta date , made that mistake once
There are parts of this country where we have no choices. Consider yourself fortunate if you do.
Wegmans, which was originally a northern tier NY store, has been expanding southward in the last two decades. When I used to visit friends in Rochester a trip to Wegmans was always on the agenda. There are now several Wegmans in eastern PA and I'm aware that they've penetrated the Baltimore area. This is a high quality store, so if they're opening in your area stand up and cheer!
Back in the day, I remember in Michigan's Upper Peninsula supermarkets were:
1. A&P
2. IGA Foodliner
3. Red Owl
When, A&P Stores closed permanently in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and the Northern Lower Peninsula A&P Stores closed permanently, became IGA Foodliner Stores. Except, for an A&P Store in West Branch, Michigan became a Sav-a-Lot Food Store, in the Colonial Style A&P Food Store. Red Owl in Michigan's Upper Peninsula went out of business.
I remember the A&P, IGA and the Red Owl stores in Manistique in the UP. We vacationed near there every year. The smell of the A&P coffee grinders is what I remember most. All that's gone with nothing left but newer buildings or vacant lots where the stores once stood. Very sad.
@@robertcolpitts4534 A lot of us in the U.P. miss the Red Owl. On ebay mementos of Red Owl are sold for ridiculous amounts. I think around the 90s the Escanaba branch became Super One but that's boarded up and now we have Meijers, which is way too huge for me to navigate. Manistique now only has Jack's. Nice store but prices are high.
@@yoopermary - Doesn't Manistique have a Save-A-Lot food store on the west side of town or is that gone as well? Jack's looks like a "boutique" grocery store like Central Market in Texas but not quite so exotic.
@@robertcolpitts4534 Back in the day, when I would be on vacation in the Houghton and Hancock in the Copper Country, I, remember A&P, IGA, and Red Owl in Hancock, and I would see A&P, IGA, and Red Owl in Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan.
I reemember IGA's in OKC
Thank you...A&P use to have the largest warehouse (over mile long) near horseheads NY the pickers use to use roller skates to fill orders .. now the place it use to be has 6 - 8 shopping plazas. Again thank you..
I loved Kohl's Food Stores. Herb Kohl was a Senator from Wisconsin. It was his family that owned the food and department stores. He also owned until about 5 years ago the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.
Loved the 8oclock coffee A&P sold back in the day What about First National Stores I’m surprised you didn’t mention them They were also pretty big chain of stores when I was growing up
My Mom ONLY shopped at the A&P. We had Riverside, Acme, and an independent store named Comet Market. Nope, she would ONLY shop in the A&P. She ended up with the nickname "The A&P girl". lol
This video is very informative as I learned about stores that I’ve never even heard of…I was hoping Farmer Jack would be on your list though, but otherwise, great video!!
Thanks for Watching! Someone else suggested Farmer Jack as well and was impressed with the history and how A&P owned it. I’ll be sure to have it in a future installment.
Yeppers, former Food Town from Toledo, Ohio/southeast Michigan area... 33 Food Town Supermarkets and 17 The Pharm drugstores in the chain plus Seaway Distributing to supply them... was sold off to Spartan Foods... which closed them after a year... although 3 independent Food Towns popped back up...
Yes A & P , I remember going there until we moved from the neighborhood near that store. I was only 5 years old when we moved but I definitely remember going to A & P every Saturday, my whole life I liked grocery shopping. Good Memories...