Grocery Archaeology

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Super Foodmart Address: 235 Queen St, Southington, CT Opened:  ca. 1980 Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  subdivided Photographed:  October 7, 2023 This facade is pretty easily recognizable to me, even though I don't think there are any supermarkets left with it. It dates back to the 1990s or so, when this A&P would've been renovated and expanded into an A&P Super Foodmart. At the time of its closing, the store totaled 43,000 square feet. (The store may also have been a Waldbaum's at the time it opened.) For comparison, here's a look at this facade on the Newington location , which later became a Best Market and then Local Market. The distinctive angled edges and circle accents over the columns are easy to spot, although of course this one has been painted. A&P closed most of its central CT locations by about 2005, although some remained later . Quite a few of the southwestern CT locations lasted until the 2015 bankruptcy...

Original Tenant: Waldbaum's Address:  778 Manor Rd, Staten Island, NY Opened:  ca. 1960 Closed:  2007 Later Tenants:  King Kullen (2007-2009) Photographed:  March 2020 This building, a bit west along the Staten Island Expressway from Olive Tree , is actually two floors, with both floors being taken up originally by Waldbaum's. The lower (basement) level, which ends up being ground level on the side of the building and was originally the backroom, later became a CVS. King Kullen bought this Waldbaum's in 2007 before closing in 2009. At that time, after extensive renovations, CVS moved into the top floor around 2010. Queens, NY-based Fresh n Save Marketplace, a Key Food affiliate, moved into the rather dingy basement and equipped it nicely for a brand-new supermarket. Although Fresh n Save didn't last, a Key Food operator moved in, eventually selling to a CTown operator that closed and was replaced by the third SuperFresh on Staten Island. I...

Original Tenant:  A&P Address:  375 Tompkins Ave, Rosebank, Staten Island, NY Opened:  1960s Closed:  1990s Later Tenants:  Waldbaums (1990s-2015), Food Universe Marketplace (2016-2018), Freshway Supermarket (2018-2019) Photographed:  March 2020 This location was a longtime A&P that was converted to Waldbaum's by the 1990s before closing early in the 2015-16 bankrupcty. New Jersey-based operator Kevin Kim (oh boy, do we know him -- from Fairview , Plainsboro , and Belleville ). This store as a Food Universe actually seemed to do okay. It even got some nice renovations . But of course, after just about two years, it was converted to the Freshway banner and switched from Key Food to General Trading/Retail Grocers Group. The "win a car" sweepstakes from Plainsboro's grand opening never finished because the store closed before the contest ended, so that was transferred to this location. In fact, in this picture you can see the ban...