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| Photos courtesy of Catnapped Retail Central (archived) |
For the return of A&P Preservation, we're in the Philadelphia suburb of Kennett Square today! This store opened in 1992 with the shopping center, and closed in 2015 after twenty-three years in business. As far as I know, this location was very successful despite never receiving a renovation or new sign after the Fresh era of the early 2000s. The design of the store here is quite odd, and unlike any other store of this era, so I'm leaving it under 80's Superstore despite being built in the 90s.
The store has a similar footprint to other 70s and 80s stores like Clinton and Belvidere, despite being under the A&P banner.
This store is part of a retail complex called The Shoppes at Longwood Village. The name Longwood of course is a derivative from Longwood Gardens, which is located directly behind the store.
This store has an unsurprisingly large amount of hot foods and to-go areas, which complements Kennett Square's upper-middle class population.
When I first started researching this store, I quickly found that the layout is very similar to those of ACME Markets, which is very odd. I could not find any information on it whatsoever online, but I have a feeling that this location may have been planned as something other than a SuperFresh, although I am likely wrong. There's something about this store that just doesn't seem totally A&P-built.
The remaining checkerboard above the Seafood Cove here leads me to think that prior to the 00's Calligraphy decor, this store had the 90's Foodmarket decor; which would make perfect sense with the downlight positions here. However, due to the style of wood-slat aisle toppers and clock at the customer service desk (which we'll get to later), this store had to open with the Sav-A-Center decor and format.
These aisle markers have definitely seen better days.
As you all know from previous articles, I absolutely hate drop ceilings. They get dirty, wet, and stain easily because of that. I have never seen a pristine drop ceiling in a store that's more than twenty years old. However, I'm proven wrong here. This drop ceiling actually looks good, dare I say. I only see one stain just to the left of "pasta products" on the aisle marker.
Oddly, Ice Cream lines the front end of the store here, just after Dairy and the inline Frozen aisles.
Because of the upgrade to the 00's Calligraphy decor package, corporate decided to change the classic floor here from black tiles to this peach color, and I have to admit, I really like it.
The wood accents, clock, and positioning of the Customer Service desk definitely has all the earmarks of the Sav-A-Center decor package.
As many upgrades as this store received, I am shocked to see the original Killion checkout lanes intact here.
The store has since been converted into Ross Dress For Less and Ulta Beauty. Despite the store's borderline identical look, the entire facade was actually torn down and rebuilt with a smaller, similar looking facade.
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