I stopped by the A&P in Clinton a few months ago to check out what has left since I was last there in November 2015, when the store was having it's fixture sale.
Signs haven't been taken down yet. The building is currently for sale or lease under Ripco Real Estate.
Park benches and carts are gone! I would've looked farther into the side here, but unfortunately there was a strange man having his lunch under the tree here in his car.
Checkouts are still in place, with all of it's 80-ness still intact. The Grand Union-styled glass panels above the checkout have fallen recently, in a later shot you can see broken milk glass panes all over the floor.
Breakroom is located here. The manager's office is located in the back of the store. Obviously this was added afterwards.
The A&P sunrise sign is slowly fading away. It's starting to look pinkish.
Shelving has been ripped out of the front corridor, exposing the customer service stand on the right. If you look closely in the image, you can see old A&P circulars and more in the gray part of the floor.
Another thing to note is that half of the aisles are gone next to produce.
Do they still accept it?
Customer Service sign (which I swear) was not up at the time of the fixture sale. If I had noticed it, I would've bought this easily. Too bad it's fading now.
Wood-slat hand-me-down cooler cases! Most likely from a Food Emporium in New York.
Well folks, here you have it, this A&P's store number, #949.
Possible welcome sign was located on the left here. It's been gone for years now.
I tried to enter the building here, but unfortunately the doors were locked. There was a security guard inside.
Delivery bay looking old... check out that railing!
If anyone takes over this building, I want to see them power-wash it.
Former A&P barrel-roof just across from where I'm standing. Rite Aid now owns it.
And to top it off, the pylon sign that has everyone asking Why? It's backwards!
And at the holy-grail of shopping centers... Walmart and ShopRite. It's surprising how long A&P lasted here!
A&P of Clinton
49 Old Highway 22
Clinton, New Jersey
History: A&P
Great post! This store has always fascinated me. Funny how a store like Washington/Hampton would be so new compared to this. I guess there were a handful of much older A&Ps out in western New Jersey, like this one or Califon.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard from someone who lived in the area, this A&P had not been for many years a place to do a big food shopping. Interestingly, two different people told me the same thing about their A&Ps compared to the ShopRites -- the A&P was the quick pickup place when you forgot a loaf of bread or wanted that one item ShopRite didn't sell, but the ShopRite was the place to go for big shopping.
Some of the unique products (such as a certain brand of tea, for instance) that only A&P sold actually ended up at the Ocean State Job Lot in Clinton when this store closed. The person who told me this said she was initially excited that Ocean State began carrying the product, but it disappeared soon after -- so it must have been stock that didn't sell at A&P.
The ShopRite is owned by Joe Colalillo, who's also the chairman and CEO of Wakefern. Although it looks nice enough in pictures, it doesn't have the latest decor package from his stores, which is in Bethlehem, Phillipsburg, Yardley, and a few others.
Yep, Ocean State bought out many items from A&P after closing. We had a bunch up here in NY (about an hour from the nearest A&P that was still open through the end).
ReplyDeleteOllie's also got some of the items.
Makes sense being both chains deal in closeout items (though Ocean State does have quite a bit that they stock regularly as well).
America's Choice made its way well into Florida (Big Lots) after the 2015 bankruptcy. It really depends on how the stores distribute it among its stores.
DeleteOllies made it possible to buy America's Choice coffee here in Atlanta for the first time in nearly twenty years. Too bad they were sold out of it by the next time I went there.
Deletethere were other stores with the backward logo pylon sign... never understood why either.... unless they the powers that be thought the outer stripes of color yellor & orange kind of point to the store....go figure
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I was thinking... kind of like an arrow. There would be no other reason, right? It would have been cheaper to get duplicates of the same sign.
DeleteOr is it just being two sided? Thinking the other side would look more like what is on the store front?
DeleteThus, to make the colors go the same on both sides, one has to be reversed. Otherwise, on this side the A&P would be across from the yellow & orange on the opposite side.