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| Photo courtesy of Herald Community Newspapers |
Today at A&P Preservation we're taking a look at the abandoned Waldbaum's in East Meadow, New York. For those who are unfamiliar with Long Island, East Meadow is not too far in. It's not nearly as insane as stores in Riverhead, which are all the way in the Island! I have to head out to Long Island every once in awhile for family matters. Traffic is insane! Quit complaining... let's start the tour!
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| Photos courtesy of geekyTV |
Today's tour comes from our contributor geekyTV. He shopped at this store for the longest time until closing. This store opened in the late 90's as a "fresh build" as we like to call it here at A&P Preservation. The store opened, and closed, with the 90's Foodmarket decor that we've been extensively covering on the blog lately. This version of the Foodmarket decor includes the Waldbaum's leaf!
One thing that I've never gotten over about in the 90's Centennials is the fact that the produce department is so cavernous, but as soon as you hit meat and seafood, the ceiling is almost touchable! It's honestly ridiculous. Note the "Club Pack" signage. This was A&P's move to combat the Warehouse Store chains, such as BJ's and Costco. However, I highly doubt that Club Packs lasted until the day geekyTV took these photos!
Shelves are starting to empty out! This location was very similar to the Claymont Superfresh we toured a few weeks ago.
A look towards the front-end. This store had an odd layout! The pharmacy was NOT along the front of the store next to Customer Services. Instead, it was given its own little cubicle to work from. This is similar to many ShopRite locations owned by the Colalillo family, ironically my location Greenwich ShopRite.
geekyTV states that this was the former Bank of America. He says its been closed for years! Not much use of that cubicle, huh? This is why banks were phased out in most supermarkets built later, not just by A&P, but literally any company. It's an unpredictable business. Often times these banks move to their own standalone location in the parking lot.
Weird stack of shopping carts in the middle of the store here. While we saw that Claymont was in terrible disrepair, I'll admit, this location looks a lot cleaner and well-maintained! Good job, everyone! Sadly, this store is still vacant today.
Instead of "Food Market" trapping the icon in the signage here, the Waldbaum's version of the Foodmarket decor has their slogan at the time-- "If it's good for you, it's good for Waldbaum's". You can see photos of this slogan here.
Ah, yes! Waldbaum's monitors in all their glory! Thank you geekyTV for showing us this! Notice the classic 90's registers in the background...
....as well as the U-Scans! These have been in place since day 1. Even in, what I'd call, a Waldbaum's green!
On a side note, it seems that the Operating System is having some critical issues.
A "creepy look" inside one of the bathrooms. For sure a first at A&P Preservation! geekyTV wrote that "It is as creepy as it looks." No lighting!
Nice Waldbaum's signage along the front.
This store, like most of the Waldbaum's locations on Long Island, are vacant. The store has been deteriorating for years now... lettering on the building has fallen down, and access to the parking lot has been blocked off.
This location is becoming Winthrop Orthopaedic Associates. Once the building is renovated, they will be moving from their Hempstead Turnpike location.
ReplyDeletehttp://winthroportho.com/