One of America's biggest grocery chains is on the brink of death

[TexasTowelie]

A&P is considering filing for bankruptcy, Bloomberg reports.

The 156-year-old chain was once America's largest grocer with more than 15,000 locations.

Now, it has fewer than 400 stores and it's struggling to stay in operation.

"Bids for A&P were due last month as part of an auction for the company, but no viable offers for the entire chain were received," Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation. "That means the stores could be sold piecemeal, marking the end of what was once the largest U.S. grocer."

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/technology/businessinsider/article/One-of-America-s-biggest-grocery-chains-is-on-the-6338612.php

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. Haven't seen one around Chicago in like forever.

I remember in the 70's they were here and tried rebranding themselves as 'A&P WEO' ("wheee-ohh&quot , some kind of Aldi-like set up I guess.

[rurallib]

3. chicago was once their home base

My dad used to use a trip to A&P HQ as an excuse to go to a Cubs game. Back in the '60s.

A&P has been at death's door for a long, long time.

[NV Whino]

2. Might be better.

Bring back the neighborhood grocery stores.

[Snobblevitch]

4. Walmart has been experimenting with that format.

[NV Whino]

5. Okay, I have brain disconnect here, trying to equate WalMart with local grocery store.

[Snobblevitch]

9. I didn't write anything about local.

Walmart is experimenting with smaller stores that are stores for a oarticular neighborhood rather than the uncredibly huge supercenters that draw shoppers from a much greater distance. Walmart calls them neighborhood stores.

[NV Whino]

10. Sorry, I equate local with neighborhood

[Snobblevitch]

11. Walmart wants people to go to the neighborhood

store because they have found that a lot of people don't want to navigate they huge stores. They have built small Aldi sized stores to see if people will shop there instead of a competitor's store while not shifting sales crom their super centers.

[ladyVet]

6. I remember A & P stores.

I think they were the first ones around here to have a machine where you could grind your own coffee beans. Loved how that smelled! Never could stand to drink the stuff, though.

I miss Winn-Dixie and Piggly Wiggly, too. I used to take my granny to PW and get a handful of those "Let's Go to the Races" cards for the horse racing they sponsored every Saturday. Never won anything.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. They bought the Pathmark chain

in the NY, NJ, PA area. I hope to hell they don't start shutting that down.

I remember when I was a kid in the '60s, we had an A&P nearby. It was tiny in terms of supermarkets because of the location, but we did go there frequently before they were bought out, and then the site became other businesses over the years. Also had a Penn Fruit and a Pantry Pride, along with Acme. Now those are all gone except Acme, although we do have Pathmark (which is owned by A&P now), ShopRite, and more recently, Giant Foods (that still congregates outside of the city except for 1 that is in NE Philly).

Alot have blamed the Walmarts and Targets and their food sections (although the articles mention Trader Joes, which are few and far between around here in the Philly area - there is only 1 in the city and that is downtown). Seems Amazon has decided to compete in that space with the same day delivery services. But then again, I remember when I was little and we got milk delivered. It was right at the tail end of the food delivery era and now here we are once more.

[aikoaiko]

8. I shagged carts for a NH A&P. Good times.

[Lugnut]

12. Bummer.

I worked at an A&P store back in the 70s. The pay scales were good because it was a union shop.