1878–1951: Hartford era Evolution of the grocery store Ī 1888 advertisement for A&P from a Norfolk, Virginia, guidebook, listing the range of items carried In 1871, A&P introduced another concept when it offered premiums, such as lithographs, china, and glassware with the purchase of coffee and/or tea at its stores. The tea company continued to use the Great American name for mail-order purposes. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed Gilman created a parallel company, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, to promote the then-new concept of prepackaged tea under the Thea-Nector name. By 1866, the firm was valued at more than $1 million. Gilman also built a nationwide mail order business. The firm was able to offer low prices by acting as both the wholesaler and retailer. Gilman proved to be a master at promotion the business quickly expanded by advertising low prices. Quickly, it opened five stores, moving its office and warehouse to 51 Vesey Street. In early 1863 the firm became a retailer, Great American Tea Company. Initially, Gilman & Company was a wholesaler. In May 1861, Gilman turned over the tanning business to his brother Winthrop George moved his tea business to 129 Front Street. One source speculates that Gilman decided to enter a more respectable business in light of his wealth. That year, Gilman & Company entered the tea and coffee business from that storefront. Gilman's father died in 1859, leaving the son wealthy. The forerunner of A&P was founded in the 1850s as Gilman & Company by George Gilman (1826–1901) to continue his father's leather tanning business in 1858 the firm's address was 98 Gold Street in Manhattan. 1.5.2 Second Chapter 11 bankruptcy and supermarket shutdown.1.5 2001–2015: Final years as a supermarket chain.1.2.3 Adding stores that included grocery, meat, produce, and dairy.In 1936, it adopted the self-serve supermarket concept and opened 4,000 larger stores (while phasing out many of its smaller units) by 1950. In 1930, A&P, by then the world's largest retailer, reached $2.9 billion in sales ($47 billion today) with 16,000 stores. After World War I, it added stores that offered meat and produce, while expanding manufacturing. After Hartford acquired ownership, A&P grew dramatically by introducing the economy store concept in 1912, growing to 1,600 stores in 1915. The firm grew to 70 stores by 1878, when Gilman passed management to George Huntington Hartford, who turned A&P into the country's first grocery chain. įounded in 1859 by George Gilman as "Gilman & Company", within a few years the firm opened a small chain of retail tea and coffee stores in New York City, and operated a national mail order business. In his 1952 book, American Capitalism, John Kenneth Galbraith cited A&P's manufacturing strategy as a classic example of countervailing power that was a welcome alternative to state price controls. Until 1982, A&P also was a large food manufacturer. Known for innovation, A&P and the supermarkets that followed its lead improved nutritional habits by making available a vast assortment of food products at much lower costs. At its peak in the 1940s, A&P captured 10% of total US grocery spending. Ī&P was considered an American icon that, according to The Wall Street Journal, "was as well known as McDonald's or Google is today", and was "the Walmart before Walmart". From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until 1965, the largest U.S. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. at the Wayback Machine (archived October 17, 2015)
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