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By Garland Pollard
What a waste! This once-great American grocery company is now a shadow of its former self. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company still lives on in the Northeast, thankfully. It’s really a group of grocery store brands, including Waldbaum’s, Food Emporium, Super Fresh, Pathmark and A&P.
Yes, it’s still publicly traded, and the stock, with ticker GAP, is on the NYSE. Sadly, it dumped its old Ann Page store brand. And Bokar coffee is gone too, though its Eight O’Clock brand was spun off. But with a stock price at $23 this June 2008, it finally looks like this tired old brand is out of the danger zone. Good work Tengelmann Group (Tengelmann is the German grocery company that bought it).
We believe there is very much residual brand goodwill in A&P, and it needs to be exploited.
With only a bit of dusting (perhaps wishful thinking), this could be (and was) America’s Sainsbury or Tesco. Or even better than that, as it is one of the few brands that connects the tea-clipper era with today, it could be America’s Fortnum & Mason. We would love to stop in for some Bokar coffee today! What about an A&P, with coffee grinders at the end of the aisle, free Wi-Fi, and an in-store Bokar coffee shop.
We are SO there.
Better yet, it could be what it was. A grocery chain with a low number of SKU’s, that it is easy to get in and out of, and one that concentrates on the basics.
We love to hear about old brands being revived, dead brands resuscitated or great brands in jeopardy. We will help spread the word. Or, you can just email us and tell us we are full of it!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Bedroom furniture // Jun 22, 2008 at 10:23 am
When you are picking out toys for your baby, no doubt you want to purchase toys that your little one will love. However, there is a lot that will go into the decision of which baby toys to purchase. You see, there is much to consider, such as the price, the safety, your baby’s development, and a whole lot more. If you’re a bit nervous about picking out the best safe baby toys for your new baby, then here are a few great tips that will help you make the right decision; avoid toys with small parts as they might choke the baby, go for toys that stimulate the senses like some educational toys, think of how long the toy will last and finally make sure the toy meets safety standard.
2 A&P on its 150th Anniversary | // Mar 5, 2009 at 8:26 am
[…] are good signs at the company. The first good sign is that they have invested in a new A&P store model; while I haven’t seen it, the photos of their Holmdel, N.J. store look promising, though I […]
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