A&P

1859–1878: Gilman era The forerunner of A&P was founded in the 1850s as Gilman & Company by George Gilman (1826–1901) to continue his father's leather tanning business; in 1858 the firm's address was 98 Gold Street in Manhattan. Gilman's father died in 1859, leaving the son wealthy. That year, Gilman & Company entered the tea and coffee business from that storefront. One source speculates that Gilman decided to enter a more respectable business in light of his wealth. In May 1861, Gilman turned over the tanning business to his brother Winthrop; George moved his tea business to 129 Front Street. Initially, Gilman & Company was a wholesaler. In early 1863 the firm became a retailer, Great American Tea Company. Quickly, it opened five stores, moving its office and warehouse to 51 Vesey Street. Gilman proved to be a master at promotion; the business quickly expanded by advertising low prices. The firm was able to offer low prices by acting as both the wholesaler and retailer. Gilman also built a nationwide mail order business. By 1866, the firm was valued at more than $1 million (~$ in ). In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed; Gilman created a parallel company, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, to promote the then-new concept of prepackaged tea under the Thea-Nector name. The tea company, which some sources say was co-founded by George Huntington Hartford, continued to use the Great American name for mail-order purposes. In 1871, A&P introduced another concept when it offered premiums, such as lithographs, china, and glassware with the purchase of coffee and/or tea at its stores. These premiums are now collectibles. 1878–1951: Hartford era Evolution of the grocery store , mid-1870s Hartford joined Gilman & Company as a clerk perhaps in the late 1850s; Hartford later was promoted to bookkeeper, then cashier, in 1866. By 1871 Hartford was in a position of authority and was responsible for expanding A&P to Chicago after its great fire. A&P's first store outside New York City was opened just days after the disaster. The firm rapidly expanded; in 1875 A&P had stores in 16 cities. In 1878, Gilman left the active management of the firm to Hartford. By then, the firm operated 70 lavishly equipped stores and a mail order business with combined annual sales of $1 million. , guidebook, listing the range of items carried To raise revenue, Congress raised tariffs on tea and coffee. Profits on these products declined; around 1880 A&P started to sell sugar in its stores. The company continued aggressive growth and by 1884 operated stores as far west as Kansas City and as far south as Atlanta. The company also operated wagon routes to serve rural customers. About this time, two of Hartford's sons, George (1864–1957) and John (1872–1951), joined the firm. A&P lore holds that George convinced his father to expand the product line to include A&P-branded baking powder. Over the next decade, the company added other A&P-branded products, such as condensed milk, spices, and butter. As it expanded its offerings, the tea company was gradually creating the first grocery chain. By 1900, the firm had sales of $5 million (~$ in ) from 198 stores as well as its mail order and wagon route operations. However, other grocery chains were expanding more rapidly and blanketing their respective areas while the tea company's stores were spread over a much larger area. A&P quickly found itself at a disadvantage. In 1901, George Gilman died without a will, starting a legal battle among his numerous heirs. The senior Hartford stepped into the battle by asserting that, in 1878, Gilman gave him half of the company in an unwritten partnership agreement. Evidence provided to the court established that Hartford received half of A&P's profits starting in 1878 and that the company's leases were in his name. The heirs realized that without Hartford, the firm would quickly become unprofitable. Therefore, in 1902 they agreed to a settlement where A&P was to be incorporated, with $2.1 million (~$ in ) in assets. Under this agreement, the Gilman heirs received $1.25 million in preferred shares at 6% interest, while Hartford received $700,000 in common stock and the remainder of the preferred shares. This gave Hartford control of the voting stock. Over several years, Hartford was able to repurchase the preferred shares from the Gilman heirs. A&P opened an average of one store every three weeks. A nine-story headquarters and warehouse was built in Jersey City; it later expanded to include a manufacturing plant and bakery. By 1908, George Hartford Sr. divided management responsibilities among his sons, with George Jr. controlling finance with John directing sales and operations. The sons ran A&P for over 40 years. The younger Hartford moved aggressively to promote the A&P brand, dramatically increasing the product line. To make space for the new items, A&P replaced in-store premiums with Plaid Stamps, which sought to mimic S&H Green Stamps, a popular rewards program. By 1912, the corporation operated 400 stores and averaged a 22% gross margin, resulting in a 2% profit. A&P's peddlers were also operating 5,000 rural routes in distinctive red-and-black wagons. Development of economy stores Food prices were a political issue in the 1912 presidential election after a 35% increase in 10 years. The newer combination stores included space for meats, produce, and dairy, as well as traditional grocery items. Sales reached $400 million and profit was $10 million. However, the Hartford brothers were concerned that gross margins had reached 22% to cover higher costs and that the chain veered from its low-cost discipline. In early 1926, the brothers discussed the situation with division management and launched a program to lower prices and improve cost controls. That year, sales increased 32%; A&P moved its headquarters to the new Graybar Building adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. In 1927, A&P established a Canadian division; by 1929 it operated 200 stores in Ontario and Quebec. In 1930, the corporation's 16,000 stores reached $2.9 billion (~$ in ) in sales, 1951–1974: Post-Hartford era , remained unchanged (except for A&P's "sunrise" logo) until it closed in 2013. In 1951, John Hartford died in the Chrysler Building after returning from a meeting of the automaker's board of directors. George remained as A&P's chairman and treasurer, appointing the corporation's longtime secretary Ralph Burger as its new president. While Burger started with A&P in 1910 as a clerk in Glens Falls, New York, he was a staffer who lacked John Hartford's strategic marketing skills. Under Burger, A&P continued to report record sales and operated with expenses of 12.6% of sales when the industry average was 15%. Burger was also president of the John A. Hartford Foundation started by sons John and George in 1929, assuring Burger's control of A&P when George died in 1957. George's trust was dissolved; the stock began selling on the New York Stock Exchange (under the symbol GAP) at $59 per share. For the first time, A&P elected six outside directors onto its board. In late 1961, A&P stock peaked at $70 (~$ in ). The seeds for A&P's 35-year fall from the country's largest grocery to bankruptcy (and later liquidation) were planted in the 1950s: • A&P was starved of capital. While A&P was publicly traded, control rested with Burger, who headed both the corporation and the Hartford Foundation. Most of A&P's profit was declared as dividends to satisfy the income needs of the trust and its heirs. A&P also remained opposed to debt financing; the only source of capital was the depreciation account. While competitors invested in larger, modern supermarkets, A&P was slow to update its retail capital plant. By 1970, A&P stores were considerably smaller and mostly older than those of its competitors. • A&P placed too much emphasis on private label products. In 1951, the Supreme Court ruled that manufacturers could not establish minimum prices unless the retailer agreed to the arrangement. This decision launched a revolution in discount retailing fueled by the rapid increase in television advertising that raised demand for national brands. Contrary to this, A&P invested substantial amounts of its scarce capital to expand manufacturing, including $25 million to construct the world's largest food plant in Horseheads, New York. Because A&P stores were smaller, its shelves were dominated by private-label products, and customers found that national brands were often out of stock. • '''A&P's labor costs were higher than those of most competitors.''' Because A&P stopped growing, a rising percentage of its workers were making higher wages due to their seniority. This was not a problem for most of A&P's competitors because they were rapidly expanding and had relatively fewer workers with high seniority. To offset higher labor costs, A&P tried to operate stores with fewer employees, resulting in long lines at checkouts and empty shelves. Ralph Burger attempted to reverse downward tonnage figures by reintroducing trading stamps, creating A&P's Plaid Stamps. However, by late 1962, the initial sales gains evaporated and the six outside directors threatened to resign unless Burger retired. When Burger left in May 1963, the stock was trading in the $30s (~$ in ). Burger was replaced with a succession of presidents who were unable to stem the downward spiral. In 1971, the board turned to William J. Kane, who joined A&P in 1934 as a full-time store clerk. Kane believed that A&P could be turned around by focusing on basic store operations, including cleanliness, product availability, customer service, and courtesy. When his program stalled, Kane implemented a strategy to substantially cut prices by converting A&P to a warehouse store concept that became known as W.E.O. Warehouse Economy Outlet (or Where Economy Originates). The problem was that most A&Ps were not large enough to properly implement the program; losses quickly mounted. In early 1973, the stock dropped to $17, and Charles Bluhdorn of Gulf+Western made a tender offer at $20 per share. Kane rejected the offer, although some stockholders thought that the offer was attractive considering A&P's continuing difficulties. A&P exited California and Washington state in 1971 and 1974, respectively, making Missouri its westernmost reach. In 1974, the corporation also left its long-time headquarters in the Graybar Building, moving to Montvale, New Jersey. 1975–2001: Scott/Wood era . Note the "sunrise" logo introduced in 1975. In February 1975, A&P considered a plan by Booz Allen Hamilton to close 36% of its 3,468 stores. Kane agreed to resign and was replaced by Jonathan Scott, the 44-year-old president of Albertsons. Under Scott, A&P closed 1,500 stores in three years, reducing to 1,978 units. Scott hired numerous executives from outside and pushed authority down to the regional level. During his first three years, A&P built 300 supermarkets ranging from to , along with its first combination grocery-drug stores with under the A&P Family Mart name. The first Family Mart opened in Greenville, South Carolina, as The Family Mart in 1977. A&P realized that its name was not the asset it had been. : It became an ACME in 2015 due to A&P's liquidation. A&P started to acquire stores from other chains. Starting in 1982, A&P acquired several chains that continued to be operated under their own names, rather than being converted to A&P. While A&P regained profitability in the 1980s, in 2002 it operated at a record loss because of new competition, especially from Walmart. A&P closed more stores, which included the sale of its large Canadian division. A&P also spun off Eight O'Clock Coffee, the last of its manufacturing units. In 1982, Stop & Shop exited New Jersey, not returning for almost 20 years. A&P purchased most of these stores to replace obsolete ones. In 1983, A&P bought Wisconsin-based Kohl's Food Stores (which had been part of the Kohl's department store chain) from BATUS, enabling A&P to reenter Wisconsin and Illinois. In 1984, A&P purchased Pantry Pride's Richmond, Virginia, division. In 1986, A&P purchased Waldbaum's (with stores in southern New York and southern New England) and The Food Emporium, the latter an upscale New York City-based chain. In 1989, A&P acquired Michigan-based Farmer Jack; also, A&P attempted to expand into Europe by bidding unsuccessfully for the Gateway Corporation (then the United Kingdom's third-largest grocery chain), although they did open stores in the Netherlands, which they operated until the early 2000s. In the early 1990s, A&P started to struggle again because of the economy and new competition, especially Walmart. In 1992, A&P's sales dropped to $1.1 billion; it posted a loss of $189 million. A&P responded by strengthening its private label program and overhauling its remaining U.S. units. Most stores smaller than were expanded, closed, or replaced with units from to . The new stores included pharmacies, larger bakeries, and more general merchandise. reducing it to just over 500 stores. In 2005, A&P sold its 237-store Canadian division (consisting of A&P, Dominion, Ultra Food and Drug stores, as well as the Canadian Food Basics units) to Montreal-based Metro Inc. for Can$1.7 billion in cash plus shares of Metro. In 2007, A&P closed its New Orleans division, limiting A&P's footprint to the Northeast. Also in 2007, A&P acquired Pathmark, a long-time Northeastern rival, for $1.4 billion (~$ in ). With this purchase, A&P again became the largest supermarket operator in the New York City area. as Tengelmann ended its holding, and briefly returned to modest profitability in 2013 and 2014. This allowed A&P to regain its position as the largest grocery retailer in the New York City area, and the second-largest in the Philadelphia area. However, the Federal Trade Commission declared that as a result of the acquisition, A&P would be a monopoly in parts of Long Island and Staten Island. As part of its settlement with the FTC, the corporation was forced to divest of some Waldbaum's and Pathmarks. When A&P marked its 150th anniversary in 2009, it was ranked only No. 21 by Supermarket News of the top 75 North American grocery retailers based on 2008 fiscal year estimated sales of US$9.6 billion (~$ in ). Tengelmann held approximately 38.5 percent of A&P, with Yucaipa holding a 27.5 percent share; the rest was held by individual shareholders and investor groups. Christian Haub was chairman. Eric Claus, then president and CEO, left A&P, with Sam Martin assuming these responsibilities. First Chapter 11 bankruptcy (2010) The Great Recession affected many supermarkets as customers migrated to discount markets in even greater numbers. A&P was especially hard hit because of its increased debt load to complete the Pathmark purchase. In June 2010, A&P stopped paying $150 million (~$ in ) in rent on the closed Farmer Jack stores. In August, A&P announced that it would close another 25 stores in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania: 13 Pathmarks, 6 A&Ps, 2 Waldbaum's, and 4 Super Fresh stores. In September, A&P announced it was selling seven Connecticut stores to Big Y. On December 10, 2010, bankruptcy rumors surfaced; A&P stock tumbled from over $3 per share to below $1 before trading was halted. Two days later, A&P announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to documents submitted to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, A&P listed over $2.5 billion in assets, and $3.2 billion in debt. After the filing, A&P remained in operation (with its stock symbol changed to GAPTQ) while it developed a reorganization plan. In November 2011, the corporation announced that it had entered into an agreement to receive $490 million (~$ in ) of debt and equity financing from Yucaipa, Mount Kellett Capital Management, and investment funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The agreement enabled A&P to complete its restructuring and emerge from Chapter 11 as a private entity in early 2012. At this time, Christian Haub left A&P, and Tengelmann wrote off its books the remaining equity. Second Chapter 11 bankruptcy and supermarket shutdown A&P briefly returned to modest profitability by cutting costs in its remaining stores, although customer spending further decreased. In 2013, again a company, A&P was put up for sale but could not find a suitable buyer. In January 2014, Sam Martin resigned. In March, Paul Hertz was named CEO and President as the company broke even. On January 15, 2015, the trade publication Supermarket News reported that A&P was still for sale. There were rumors of several parties being interested, including Cerberus, still owning Albertsons assets. However, no suitable offers were received. In May, rumors emerged that A&P was in more financial trouble as it declared a huge loss (in April) for the previous year, losing more business to better-managed competition. As customers were staying away, A&P considered its second bankruptcy filing in less than five years. There were rumors that A&P would sell all stores more than 40 miles from its corporate offices, shrinking the company to about 100 stores. Other rumors were that the company would sell all its stores. Rumors also surfaced about a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and total liquidation, selling the company in pieces, as well as a Chapter 11 bankruptcy with selling in pieces. The company remained for sale as a whole, receiving no bids for any of its stores. Other alternatives were explored, including selling other assets. mainly in New York City, including all remaining Food Basics and Food Emporium stores. Morton Williams acquired two Food Emporium stores in Manhattan, while Wakefern Food Corporation, the cooperative which runs ShopRite and PriceRite, acquired 12 units, including 9 Pathmark stores. Local grocers also acquired units either through sales or auctions. All supermarkets were closed by November 25 (Thanksgiving eve). The last remaining portion of A&P, Best Cellars at A&P, had its stores auctioned in summer 2016, with 11 stores sold (none as going concerns) and 6 leases rejected. ==Store design==

The A&P Historical Society describes early stores as "resplendent emporiums" painted in vermilion and equipped with a large gas light T sign. Interiors included crystal chandeliers, tin ceilings, and walls with gilt-edged Chinese panels. A clerk stood behind a long counter to serve customers (self-service did not become common until the 1930s), and the cashier's station was shaped like a pagoda. When A&P started offering premiums, the wall opposite the counter was equipped with large shelves to display the giveaways. After John Hartford became responsible for marketing in the 1900s, A&P began offering S&H Green Stamps to free space for the expanded line of groceries available in the stores. The economy stores John Hartford developed in 1912 eliminated frills. Typically , these stores were equipped with basic shelving and a small ice box. A&P agreed only to short leases so that it could quickly close unprofitable stores. In the early 1920s, A&P opened combination grocery/meat/produce stores eventually converting into supermarkets in the 1930s. On average, each supermarket replaced six older combination stores. A&P's policy of agreeing only to short-term leases resulted in differences in store design into the 1950s. During the mid-20th Century A&P stores were considerably smaller in size than those of other chains. As late as 1971, half of the A&P stores were under . During the Scott era, store design was modernized and controlled from headquarters. A&P developed four different-sized prototypes: , , , and . Family Mart stores were combination grocery/drug units with of floor space. Futurestore During the Wood era, A&P developed the "Futurestore" concept; these supermarkets used black-and-white decor. Family Mart would serve as the testbed for the concept design. Futurestore was one of two concepts A&P launched during the 1980s (the other being Sav-A-Center; also defunct). Futurestore's first supermarket was in the New Orleans area in 1984, where A&P converted two Kroger stores it had acquired. The first conversion of an A&P to the Futurestore format was in New Jersey in 1985. The Futurestore concept spread to A&Ps in the southeastern US, plus its traditional Mid-Atlantic region (operating in the Philadelphia area under the Super Fresh name), but, in the late 1980s, all Futurestores had been re-branded, or closed. Like its sibling supermarket, Sav-A-Center, A&P Futurestore was identified by its features and color scheme. The Futurestore interior was black and white, compared to the green and white of Sav-A-Center stores. Most Futurestores also had a glass atrium storefront. In addition, Futurestore signage featured pictograms, similar to those of European supermarkets. Futurestores typically offered the latest in gourmet departments and electronic services in exclusive neighborhoods. Futurestore's amenities were more gourmet- and specialty-oriented than found at a traditional A&P or Sav-A-Center supermarket. Futurestores also had more modern fixtures and machinery than A&Ps had at the time. Since the concept was never adopted for a widespread rollout, A&P phased out the Futurestore nameplate, closing some stores and converting others to A&P or Sav-A-Center. Many customers felt Futurestore did not have the same panache of other upscale food retailers, which not only offered more gourmet products, but also cooked and delivered it. A&P, however, did not immediately change the interior of the Futurestores, unlike its Sav-A-Centers, after A&P began to rebrand them as A&P Food Markets in the 1990s. Pharmacies In the mid-1990s, A&P began adding pharmacies, concentrating on building units of to . A&P Preservation reported in March 2018 that A&P did open a store in Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh. Tengelmann Representative Petra Czech says that the name was licensed to Saudi operators. The store was most likely converted to the Saudi rendition of Safeway. ==Store names==

For most of its history, A&P operated its stores under that name. That changed during the Scott and Wood eras when A&P created chains, or used the original names of acquired chains. The following were A&P's retail operations under a different name: • Family Mart: Started in 1977, this chain of large grocery stores/pharmacies was based on similar units built by Skaggs-Albertson's when A&P Chairman Scott worked for the latter. • Plus: In Germany, Tengelmann operated many small stores under the Plus name, focusing on low-cost no-frills operations. After acquiring a majority stake of A&P, Tengelmann converted some of A&P's smaller stores to the Plus concept. • Super Fresh: When A&P announced the closure of its Philadelphia division (which included Delaware, Maryland, and southern New Jersey) during the 1981–82 restructuring, the unions offered to buy many of these stores. A&P agreed; the corporation and the unions settled on a new labor agreement that included a profit-sharing provision. The agreement also called for the stores to be operated under a new name, Super Fresh. These stores proved to be profitable, and in 1986 the name was extended to supermarkets in the District of Columbia, and Virginia; the latter included Richmond-area Pantry Pride stores A&P purchased in 1981. • Food Basics (US & CA): In the early 2000s when the recession was hitting formerly prominent middle class areas, A&P had recorded record losses for stores in New Jersey suburbs such as Paterson, North Bergen, and Glassboro. A&P quickly turned around these unprofitable stores into a no-frills supermarket, called Food Basics. It offered the bare staples in the grocery department at a lower price. The stores featured both the America's Choice and Food Basics storebrands, as well as the normal name brand items other A&P-owned stores sold. By 2010, Food Basics operated more than a dozen stores in lower-class New Jersey cities, and several Super Fresh-turned-Food Basics stores in Central Philadelphia. The stores had no service departments except for a service deli. All other meats, seafood, and baked goods were produced off-premises, which cut A&P's labor costs in these stores by more than 50%, by taking out the higher-paying jobs of a butcher and baker, and replacing them with more stock clerks and cashiers. • Kohl's Food Stores: A&P acquired the Wisconsin-based Kohl's Food Stores in 1983 after closing A&P's large Chicago division in 1982. The first Kohl's opened in 1946; during the 1960s it expanded into department stores. In 1972, Kohl's was purchased by British American Tobacco, which decided to spin off the grocery stores to A&P a decade later. A&P closed Kohl's Food Stores in 2003. • Ultra Food & Drug / Miracle Mart / The Barn Markets (Canada): A&P acquired these two supermarket chains in Canada, and operated them until the chain's demise in the early 2000s, and operated out of the same store styles of its counterparts. • The Food Emporium: Also in 1985, this 26-store New York City-based chain was acquired by A&P. Founded in 1919 as Daitch Crystal Dairies (later becoming Shopwell Supermarkets), the chain peaked at 103 stores in 1962. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Shopwell closed many of its stores and changed its name to The Food Emporium to focus on affluent areas. • Waldbaum's was acquired in 1986. The New York City-based chain was founded in 1904 and opened its first supermarket in 1951. The company quickly expanded from the city into Nassau and Suffolk counties, and later into Connecticut and Massachusetts. In the early 2000s, A&P operated 80 Waldbaum's in southernmost New York state (outside Manhattan). Many Waldbaum's were still in operation when the company started liquidation, mainly in the Long Island area. ==Private brands==

, Manhattan, 1936. Note the prominent ads for A&P's private brands. When A&P was founded, there were no branded food products, and retailers sold food commodities in bulk. In 1870, the company became among the first to sell a branded pre-packaged food product, introducing "Thea-Necter" brand tea. In 1885, the name "A&P" was introduced on baking powder containers. Also in the 1880s, the company adopted the name "Eight-O'Clock" for its coffee. When A&P moved its headquarters to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1907, it included a bakery and coffee-roasting operation. A&P's evolution into one of the country's largest food manufacturers was the result of the 1915 court decision in the Cream of Wheat litigation that upheld the right of a manufacturer to set retail prices. To keep prices down, A&P put emphasis on private label goods. By 1962, A&P operated 67 plants before consolidating many of them into the 1.5 million-square foot Horseheads facility, which was the largest food manufacturing plant in the world under one roof. In his 1952 book, American Capitalism, John Kenneth Galbraith cited A&P's manufacturing strategy as a classic example of countervailing power that was a welcome alternative to state price controls. As late as 1977, private label represented 25% of A&P's sales, with A&P manufactured products accounting for over 40% of this total. That year, A&P manufacturing reported sales of $750 million from its 23 plants(which by itself would have ranked A&P's manufacturing group at about number 350 in the Fortune 500). • Coffee (Eight O'Clock, Bokar, Red Circle): In 1919, A&P consolidated its coffee business into the "American Coffee Company", building roasting and grinding facilities. By 1977, A&P owned three coffee roasting plants, and one for canned coffee. ==''Woman's Day''==

What became ''Woman's Day'' was started by A&P in 1931, as a free leaflet with menus. In 1937, it was expanded into a magazine that was sold exclusively in A&P stores, for 5 cents. Circulation reached 3 million in 1944 and 4 million by 1958, when the magazine was sold to Fawcett Publications. ==In arts, entertainment, and media ==

• In the opening scene of the movie Breaking Away, Dennis Quaid sings, "When I die I want to be buried in the parking lot of a A&P". • Gillian Darmody, played by Gretchen Mol, and Roy Phillips go to dinner with executives from A&P in season 4, episode 3 of Boardwalk Empire • In Tim Burton's movie Big Eyes, Margaret Keane goes into a A&P & sees her paintings being sold • The supermarket was mentioned in the Charles Manson song "Garbage Dump" • In the Starz series Gaslit, a character says to Martha Mitchell (played by Julia Roberts), "I am going to the A&P". • The 1981 song "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses contains the lyric "A&P has provided me with the world's smallest turkey." • From 1924 to 1936, A&P was the sponsor of the musical radio show The A&P Gypsies. • A&P was also a long-time sponsor of Kate Smith's radio program; the popular singer became an A&P spokesperson, attending store openings around the country. • In the 1951 Popeye short "Vacation With Play", the two squirrels in the cartoon originally spoke a transcribed radio announcement for an A&P advertisement on Jane Parker's Donuts. It can be heard only if slowing down the cartoon. Jane Parker is the name A&P used when selling their own line of baked goods such as doughnuts and cookies. • The store is the setting for John Updike's 1961 short story, "A&P". • A&P partnered with the Lifetime Network to produce the food-reality series Supermarket Superstar in 2013. • A&P is mentioned in the 1988 movie, Scrooged. Bill Murray's character said "Look up A&P. If it's not under 'A', then look under 'P'" (A&P was supposed to bring over turkeys for the shelter). • In the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July, Ron Kovic works at the A&P supermarket early on, where his father is the manager of the store. He asks his high school crush to the prom while inside an A&P supermarket. • In the 2001 book Good to Great, A&P was one of the companies examined against its rival Kroger. • In 2007, A&P was the location where the music video for the rap song, "Produce Paradise," was filmed by brothers Mark and Matt D'Avella. A&P settled a lawsuit out of court. • In the 2009 episode of Mad Men, "The Arrangements", a police officer notifies Betty Draper that her father has died, telling her: "He collapsed in line at the A&P." • In the 2004 episode of Without a Trace, "Wannabe", Emily Levine says to a classmate, in reference to her (Emily) friend Brandee's mom writing her history report, "Well at least her mom doesn't work at the checkout counter at the A&P." • In the 2022 adaptation of Don DeLillo's 1985 novel White Noise, A&P figured prominently as the characters grocery of choice. Most dramatically at the beginning of the final credits. • In the fifth season episode of Psych, "Not Even Close... Encounters", it is shown that Lassiter has a physical "crap list". One person on the list is "Check out Girl @ the A&P", but that may be an old grudge as there were no A&Ps in California anymore at the time of the episode's airing. ==See also==