A&P Food Stores

The A&P opened on Palisade Avenue in 1938. The store was Englewood's first large scale self-serve grocery story. Founded by George Gilman in 1859, by 1930 A&P was the largest retailer in the world and had captured a significant share of the country's "grocery" market. The consolidation of grocery retail markets into the hands of a few mega corporations gradually put most of the country's small grocery stores out of business, including my great grandfather's grocery store in Philadelphia. My great grandfather, like many grocers around the country, went out of business and went to work for the A&P.

"The Record," February 8, 1938