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Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 22 Apr 2009 14:50
by paul3124
Now that Royal St. New Orleans is no longer an A&P, does anyone know what is the oldest continously operating A&P store?

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 22 Apr 2009 19:48
by Lenny
I asked the same question about a year ago, and nobody seemed to know. That store was also the oldest continually operating supermarket of any chain in the country, so I wonder if the oldest store now is also an A&P or from another chain?

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 23 Apr 2009 01:05
by Andrew T.
Might it be a centennial store tucked away in New Jersey, or something along those lines?

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 23 Apr 2009 03:04
by krogerclerk
Perhaps an older store has survived in one of the boroughs of NYC. Queens, Brooklyn or The Bronx. I believe one Super Fresh stores in DC is fairly old and even some SuperFresh stores are former centennials. Could there be an old gem in Philly, be it an A&P/SuperFresh or Acme?

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 25 Apr 2009 12:30
by MikeRa
The think these 4 A&P's are now the oldest A&P still opened. they all started out as early 1950's Arch roof A&P's that later got a front remodel into the "Centennial/colonial" design. They are:
  • 289 Bergen Boulevard, Fairview, NJ (A&P Food Market)
  • 507 Prospect Avenue, Little Silver, NJ (A&P Food Market)
  • 580 Central Avenue, New Providence, NJ (A&P Food Market)
  • 199 Kinderkamack Road, Park Ridge, NJ (A&P Fresh Park Ridge)
These are all of the "Centennial/Colonial" stores that A&P still operates:
  • A&P Fresh Greenwich, 160 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT
  • Best Cellars at A&P, 46 Danbury Road, Ridgefield, CT
  • A&P Food Market, 1201 High Bridge Road, Stamford, CT
  • Super Fresh Food Market, 4330 48th Street NW, Washington, DC
  • Super Fresh Food Market, 401 New London Road, Newark, DE
  • Super Fresh Super Store, 5101 East Drive, Arbutus, MD
  • Super Fresh Super Store, 832 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson, MD
  • A&P Food Market, 110 Washington Street, Morristown, NJ
  • A&P Food Market, Washington Valley Road, Pluckemin, NJ
  • A&P Fresh Market, 450 Main Street, Armonk, NY
  • A&P Food Market, Route 22 & 138, Golden Bridge, NY
  • A&P Food Market, 132 Bedford Road, Katonah, NY
  • A&P Food Market, 230 Saw Mill River Road, Millwood, NY
  • A&P Fresh Market, 668 Central Park Avenue, Scarsdale, NY
  • A&P Fresh Market, 1366 East Main Street, Shrub Oak NY
  • Waldbaum's, 375 Tompkins Avenue, Staten Island, NY
  • A&P Fresh Market, Columbus Avenue, Thornwood, NY
  • Super Fresh Food Market, 309 South 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 25 Apr 2009 14:16
by Lenny
Wow, considering that the Colonial stores were a dime a dozen at one time, that is amazing that there are so few remain.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 25 Apr 2009 15:40
by maynesG
Hi,
The A&P on Bergen Boulervard in Fairview Nj was opened in 1959. I know this because it was originaly a Safeway store sigth that was sold to A&P when Safeway decided to sell . I know this as my Dad at the time and Assistant Manager at the Safeway in West New York N.J. was named to be itsfirst store manager. It was a major disapointment to my family when
it was sold to A&P and My Dad had to wait two full years to get a store with Finast.
Every time as a kid on theTurnpike that we passed the back of that store and saw the giant sized A&P sign, I herd the same story.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 25 Apr 2009 15:45
by maynesG
Hi, I believethat you forgot one Colonial in Bergen County, The A&P in Closter. It has been changed somuch that If you hadn!t been around in those days you would not realize it.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 26 Apr 2009 13:22
by Max
Out of the list of locations posted above, I believe only four of them (unfortunately) still remain "100% pure" centennials: the locations in Morristown, NJ; Pluckemin, NJ; Goldens Bridge, NY; and Katowah, NY. All of the others have been altered in some way.

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

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

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 17 May 2009 17:15
by Ephrata1966
Royal St. is no longer an A&P?

The centennial in Wynnewood, PA still survives as a Super Fresh, and the centennial roof is cracking and faded.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 18 May 2009 00:04
by wnetmacman
The entire Gulf Coast division of A&P was sold, save for a few stores that didn't meet their criteria, to Rouses Markets of Thibodaux, LA. Rouses is the largest independant in Louisiana, with almost 40 stores, including 4 in Mississippi. Rouses kept the Royal St. store open with few modifications, but it was already heavily modified inside as a modern 'supermarket', though it is a tiny, tiny store. From what I understand, the locals live off the lunches there.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 18 May 2009 01:08
by romleys
I bet some small town and I mean really small town still has an old A&P...

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 28 May 2009 17:19
by Jared
In holbrook ny, there is an OLD ap that operates under its waldbuams banner now. This store maybe only had minor renovation work done to it. The floor is OLD and the shelfs are even older. The cases in some of the aisles look old , probably AP days as well. It's deli is up in the front of the store, which is odd. The cases out front are old and have some rust on them. Also, the sign on the shopping center is shaped just like the old AP sign that was once there.

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 04 Jun 2009 16:37
by RoleModel
Jared wrote:In holbrook ny, there is an OLD ap that operates under its waldbuams banner now. This store maybe only had minor renovation work done to it. The floor is OLD and the shelfs are even older. The cases in some of the aisles look old , probably AP days as well. It's deli is up in the front of the store, which is odd. The cases out front are old and have some rust on them. Also, the sign on the shopping center is shaped just like the old AP sign that was once there.
From the last time I was in there a year or so ago, I think the only renovation they did was the facade. It looks horrible inside.

edit: My brother says that the deli was also up front right next to Customer Service in the Southampton Waldbaum's, also a former A&P. He hasn't been there in about five years though, so that store may have changed in the meantime (though I really doubt it - this is A&P we're talking about).

Re: Oldest Operating A&P

Posted: 01 Aug 2009 18:51
by Max
The A&P in New Providence, NJ has been expanded considerably since it was a Centennial. In fact, the only way one can even tell that it was ever a Centennial would be to look at an aerial view of the store and see the "original" section of the building (along with the expansion).

Unfortunately, I have just ascertained that A&P is planning to close its New Providence location and replace it with a new superstore (that is being built on the site of the former New Providence Acme). For more information on this subject (along with pictures of the New Providence A&P), click on the following link:

http://acmestyleblog.blogspot.com/2009/ ... ce-nj.html

Before I conclude this post, I also want to say that I have read (somewhere on the internet) that the Stamford, CT Centennial is currently closed for remodeling into a "fresh" market.