Grocery Archaeology

This is the label to a bandage from the Pathmark storebrand. It was printed wrong so that the printing is just a little too high meaning that this bandage has the Pathmark logo cut off. I've also had a Pathmark branded bandage in my wallet for years, which I believe I've posted previously, and which I recently switched out for a TopCare adhesive bandage.

So I have a Pathmark Perks card . What does it get me? Well, apparently things like this coupon for $1.50 off frozen food over $15 or more. But excluding ice cream...? Come on! Anyway, this one is long expired (2012) but still a fun find while digging through a family member's garage.

We've previously seen the Pathmark Advantage Club card my family used for years, but in 2008 when A&P purchased Pathmark, the program became Pathmark Perks. Notice the odd thing about this logo, it features the extended h in "Path" but "mark" is not set lower. Like that! Notice the A&P address on the back instead of the Pathmark address in Carteret, NJ.

My family shopped at the Pathmark in Elizabeth, NJ every week from opening day in 1968 until about 2008. Today, the Pathmark has become a Food Bazaar  where we still do shopping on a regular basis. But that means there have been dozens of odd Pathmark containers floating around the various houses repurposed, although most are gone now. Here's one still holding nails or screws in a family member's garage in the Elmora neighborhood, right near the store.

Another Finast memorabilia post to continue yesterday's theme . This one was inside the same antique store that one was outside, in Searsport, ME. All sadly outside of my price range.

Spotted outside an antique store in Maine. Here's a box that would've been used to transport soft drinks to Finast stores, and a look at some of the drinks they would've taken. We have another antique-store Finast memorabilia post tomorrow!

Today's memorabilia post is a second Ann Page product, this one featuring black pepper. (See yesterday's post here .) Does anyone know whether the color difference on this compared to the celery salt indicates different ages of the two products, or were they produced simultaneously but just with different color packaging for different spices? I recently bought whole black peppercorns and was shocked at how expensive they were... but then again, the last jar I bought lasted me about two years. So there's that.

Another round of spice containers here with the next two memorabilia posts. It's also another antique store find. Ann Page was the private label brand of A&P (hence the AP initials) when it was popular to brand products with a person's name, such as ACME's Virginia Lee brand. For ACME to sell a brand called Ann Charlotte Mercer Evans or something would be... much less catchy than A&P's Ann Page.

Walking around my neighborhood, I found this bag that someone had put out with the garbage. Unfortunately, it had probably been kept in a basement or something as it was damp and mildewy. My asthma would not have taken kindly to it. It's hard to tell exactly which Foodtown it came from, as my town hasn't had a Foodtown for probably 30 years at least. It's entirely possible it came from that store, as it shows the pre-1996 logo, but it's also possible it came from the still-in-business Foodtown a few towns to the north which is popular among some residents of my town too.

Yesterday we took a look at three different bags in which circular ads would be mailed to people's homes. This first bag features an advertisement for Twin City Supermarkets, a local chain in northern NJ. This bag was printed and distributed about 5 years ago. Since then, the Bridgewater and Jersey City locations have been converted to the Aqui Market banner and a new Aqui Market has opened in Califon. See our coverage of Califon , Sip Avenue , Garfield Avenue , and Elizabeth on The Market Report. The rest of the stores listed on this bag will be coming soon to the blog -- yes, I've photographed them all, along with more detailed coverage of Califon! And this bag for Supremo Food Market. This bag has long confused me, mostly because I don't actually know how old it is. But I'd assumed Plainfield and Irvington opened around 2005-2007 (with Elizabeth being the first and Jersey City being the second). I don't think the bag is actually that old so that means they were...

I don't know how common this is in other areas of the country, but in northern NJ, many houses receive these bags weekly filled with local supermarket, drugstore, and discount store circulars. The bags themselves are typically branded with the logos of the stores whose circulars are included inside. This one dates back to around 2014, with A&P, Food Basics, and Pathmark logos featured. A slightly different pre-2016 bag, with an old A&J Seabra Supermarkets (now Seabra Foods) logo displayed prominently at the top. This one is printed with black instead of blue ink and features the Pathmark Sav-A-Center logo along with the logo of Super Xtra , an independent store in Newark which has since closed. (Additional coverage of that store will be coming.) Tomorrow we have three more circular bags with store-specific advertisements!

They say spices lose their potency over time. I wonder how these are doing. Spotted in an antique store in Searsport, ME but sadly out of my price range. Finding Kroger branded products in Maine is unusual as they never owned stores in the New England region.

I am not so interested in department stores or really any retail other than supermarkets. However, I know a good piece of retail history when I see it. This is a good piece of retail history. I'd bet that this item dates back to the 1970s, given its design and color scheme. The best part, however, can only be seen up close... Beautiful classic Kmart logo on the speed settings!

Our first memorabilia post of Memorabilia Madness is a fairly recent one. I bought this seltzer back in 2018 at Plaza Supermarket in Worcester, MA (now a Krasdale affiliated store) but at that point, I knew the Super A brand was soon to disappear. I saved this bottle and one other for historical purposes as Super A and White Rose were phased out in favor of Avenue A . I can attest to the fact that the seltzer is of equally high quality, although this particular bottle of Super A seltzer was rather flat.

  It's almost here... starting on Sunday, we'll have a new memorabilia post every day for two weeks! This is, of course, in addition to normal coverage over on The Market Report and The Independent Edition . Enjoy!