Centennial A&P locations

[Max]

Centennials generally ran about 19,000 sf. There was a 13K sf version that went into small towns and urban neighborhoods. They looked stubby because having a narrower building screwed up the proportions. It was common for these to have siding rather than brick, but the proportions still seemed off. There were a few larger Centennials—I’ve only ever seen a very few and only been inside one—they were probably about 25K sf. Again, the proportions seemed off—the stores seem too wide and the weathervane cupola seems too small.

Nominally colonial architecture was very popular in suburban subdivisions from the 30s into the 70s. Adding some colonial decor to a strip center or retail building was common in the 50s and 60s esp. in what were then upscale or moderately upscale neighborhoods, although this began even earlier—the Shaker Square shopping complex in Cleveland which opened in 1929 and received additions in the 40s and 50s had this look and has retained it despite many ups and downs. Forest Hills Plaza in East Cleveland, Ohio was built 1n 1939 and kept the colonial look for many years but has been altered in recent decades. There are countless other examples—the Park and Shop in DC and Edmondson Village in Baltimore are examples.

I would guess that many chains had colonial prototypes—I’ve seen Acmes like this. The Pick-n-Pay chain in Cleveland had at least one free standing store like this. National Tea had a very few stores like this—I recall one in Alliance, Ohio.

Thanks for this very informative post.

It is a shame that colonial architecture fell out of favor sometime in the 1970s. Not only do I love this style of architecture, the A&P Centennial is my favorite store design of all-time. I believe that Acme's colonial prototype was called the "Colonial Cottage," although that may simply have been an unofficial name given to it. IMO, the shopping center housing the ShopRite of Chatham (which was discussed in the thread about the history of ShopRite locations) has a quasi-colonial design; that strip mall opened in April 1970. What makes the building that currently houses the ShopRite of Millburn (which opened as a supermarket in September 1960 and has been a ShopRite since December 1974) so unique is that I have never known of another instance in which a different chain built a store that was almost (though not quite 100%) identical to a Centennial.

Regarding the small Centennials, I did not realize that some of these were originally built with siding. (I always figured that the A&Ps with siding on them resulted from attempts to retrofit stores built in the pre-Centennial Era.) I actually think the Centennial prototype could have worked well with larger stores had the middle, triangular portion of the roof and the cupola & weathervane all been made proportionally bigger. Out of curiosity, where was that large Centennial (i.e., the one where you went inside) located? And do you know if it was a Centennial that had been expanded?

[rich]

The large Centennial that stands out in memory was in Simsbury CT. It operated as Fitzgerald's, which is still around but seems to be in a different location.

There is a brick small Centennial that was altered but operated as an A&P/Super Fresh until they left the DC area. I think it's been demolished, but there may be pics online---it was on Yuma St NW in Washington, DC.

The Centennial seems to have given A&P an opportunity to standardize their store sizes. They had been building the 13K stores in small towns and urban neighborhoods. Their suburban stores seemed to vary quite a bit and they were building stores larger than the usual Centennial earlier in the 50s. They did retro fit some of their 50s stores with decor to make them look Centennial-ish, but it was not the norm.

[Max]

The large Centennial that stands out in memory was in Simsbury CT. It operated as Fitzgerald's, which is still around but seems to be in a different location.

There is a brick small Centennial that was altered but operated as an A&P/Super Fresh until they left the DC area. I think it's been demolished, but there may be pics online---it was on Yuma St NW in Washington, DC.

The Centennial seems to have given A&P an opportunity to standardize their store sizes. They had been building the 13K stores in small towns and urban neighborhoods. Their suburban stores seemed to vary quite a bit and they were building stores larger than the usual Centennial earlier in the 50s. They did retro fit some of their 50s stores with decor to make them look Centennial-ish, but it was not the norm.

I did a little research, and Fitzgerald's actually had two Simsbury supermarkets at one time:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/hart ... 145746314/

I believe that the former A&P Centennial-turned-Fitzgerald's was located on Route 44. Here is a Google street view of the building (a Staples since at least September 2009) from June 2021:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.817018, ... ?entry=ttu

IMO, while the building looks slightly larger than the typical Centennial, it does not appear to be that much bigger.

The Drake Hill Mall location is the sole Fitzgerald's store in operation today. Here is some history about the chain:

https://www.fitzgeraldsfoods.com/about-us/

Regarding the A&P-turned-Super Fresh Centennial in Washington, DC, here is a June 2019 Google street view of that building:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9456155 ... ?entry=ttu

I believe there is a circa 1996 photo of that Super Fresh elsewhere on this message board. That photo shows how the building looked before the unfortunate expansion/renovation obscured part of the Centennial facade. I visited that Super Fresh in the spring of 2000, after the expansion and renovation had occurred.

The Washington, DC Centennial is still standing, but it will soon be demolished:

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ ... ve_f/22151

Below is a link to a Centennial in Hellertown, PA which looks quite a bit longer than the usual Centennial:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5676172 ... ?entry=ttu

I actually think the longer Centennial looks nice. (I have some Polaroid photos of the store from 1997, and it was a beautiful building before the renovations. But it still looks nice enough.)

FYI, the Hellertown A&P opened in August 1970, which was obviously very late in the Centennial Era. It closed as an A&P on April 14, 1983 and reopened as a Super Fresh on May 18, 1983. The Hellertown Super Fresh presumably closed on December 4, 1998, the day before a replacement store on Route 378 in Bethlehem opened.

[rich]

The end of the Centennial era was around 1972. The late Centennials were about 19K sf like all the other ones. I recall one in MentOr Ohio which opened in the late 60s and replaced a nearly identical store a mile away. One of the last was in Madison, Ohio and that was nearly identical to older stores. My sister lived near that store which closed with the rest of the area stores. The first Centennial that anyone has found opened in 1957, in Wickliffe, Ohio. It is now vacant but was an electrical wholesaler for decades.

They really did not change their prototype until about 1974, when they opened 30K sf stores with service departments that had their new, more horizontal logo. Those typically had variations on the mansard roof that was common for super markets and other retailers from the mid 60s into the 80s.

[Max]

The end of the Centennial era was around 1972. The late Centennials were about 19K sf like all the other ones. I recall one in MentOr Ohio which opened in the late 60s and replaced a nearly identical store a mile away. One of the last was in Madison, Ohio and that was nearly identical to older stores. My sister lived near that store which closed with the rest of the area stores. The first Centennial that anyone has found opened in 1957, in Wickliffe, Ohio. It is now vacant but was an electrical wholesaler for decades.

I am aware of a small handful of Centennials which opened during the second half of 1957. The oldest which I found was the Millburn, NJ location, which opened on August 20 of that year. It was expanded during the 1970s (and had its Centennial facade obstructed) and appears to have closed in March 1985. Undoubtedly, the reason it failed was because it was across the street from the ShopRite of Springfield.