Opportunities for A&P Brand

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. 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 might be out of the danger zone.

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.

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.

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

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