jump to navigation search a & p redirects here . for other uses see ap disambiguation . for other uses see the great atlantic & pacific tea company disambiguation . the great atlantic & pacific tea company former a & p headquarters in montvale new jersey trading name a & p formerly called gilman & company 1859 1869 traded as nasdaq gap industry grocery fate chapter 11 bankruptcy founded 1859 157 years ago 1859 in new york city new york united states founder george gilman defunct november 25 2015 2015 11 25 headquarters montvale new jersey us number of locations 15 709 at peak 1930 296 at liquidation 2015 areas served united states and canada revenue us 5.5 billion fy 2015 number of employees 28 500 2015 website aptea.com the great atlantic & pacific tea company better known as a & p was an american and canadian chain of grocery stores that ceased supermarket operations in november 2015 after 156 years in business . 1 from 1915 through 1975 a & p was the largest food grocery retailer in the united states until 1965 the largest u.s. retailer of any kind . 2 a & p was considered an american icon 3 that according to the wall street journal was as well known as mcdonald s or google is today and that a & p was walmart before walmart . 4 known for innovation a & p and the supermarkets that followed its lead significantly improved nutritional habits by making available a vast assortment of food products at much lower costs . 2 until 1982 a & p also was a large food manufacturer . 5 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 . 6 founded in 1859 by george gilman as gilman & company within a few years it opened a small chain of retail tea and coffee stores in new york city and operated a national mail order business . the firm grew to 70 stores by 1878 when gilman passed management to george huntington hartford who turned a & p into the country s first grocery chain . in 1900 it operated almost 200 stores . after hartford acquired ownership a & p grew dramatically by introducing the economy store concept in 1912 growing to 1 600 stores in 1915 . after world war i it added stores that offered meat and produce while expanding manufacturing . in 1930 a & p now the world s largest retailer reached 2.9 billion in sales with 16 000 stores . in 1936 it adopted the self serve supermarket concept and opened 4 000 larger stores while phasing out many of its smaller units by 1950 . 2 a & p s decline began in the early 1950s when it failed to keep pace with competitors that opened larger supermarkets with more modern features demanded by customers . by the 1970s a & p stores were outdated ; its efforts to combat high operating costs resulted in poor customer service . in 1975 it hired outside management closing older stores and building modern ones . when these efforts failed to turn a & p around the heirs of the hartford family and the hartford foundation that owned a majority of the stock sold to the tengelmann group of germany . in 1981 a & p launched its second store closing program financed by the surplus assets of its employee pension plan reducing the corporation to less than 1 000 stores . the plan also closed manufacturing operations except coffee production . 7 starting in 1982 a & p acquired several chains that continued to be operated under their names rather than 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 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 . 8 in 2007 a & p purchased pathmark one of its biggest rivals ; a & p again became the largest supermarket operator in the new york city area . 9 highly leveraged after the pathmark acquisition a & p experienced financial difficulties because of the great recession and filed for chapter 11 protection in 2010 in the united states bankruptcy court for the district of new jersey . 10 11 by the time of its filing a & p had declined from the nation s largest grocery retailer to the 28th with operations limited to the northeast . 12 in 2012 a & p emerged from bankruptcy by becoming a private company 13 and briefly returned to modest profitability in 2013 and 2014 . a & p had been for sale in 2013 but could not find a suitable buyer . after declaring a loss in april 2015 it filed for its second chapter 11 bankruptcy on july 20 . 14 all of its supermarkets were sold or closed by november 25 ; however the future of its 17 liquor stores known as best cellars had not been decided . 15 contents 1 history 1.1 1859 1878 gilman era 1.2 1878 1951 hartford era 1.2.1 evolution of the grocery store 1.2.2 development of economy stores 1.2.3 adding stores that included grocery meat produce and dairy 1.2.4 converting to supermarkets 1.3 1951 1974 post hartford era 1.4 1975 2001 scott wood era 1.5 2001 2015 final years as a supermarket chain 1.5.1 first chapter 11 bankruptcy 2010 1.5.2 second chapter 11 bankruptcy and supermarket shutdown 2 store design 2.1 rise and decline in number of stores 3 store names 4 private brands 5 woman s day 6 a & p slogans 7 in media 8 see also 9 references 10 further reading 11 external links history edit 1859 1878 gilman era edit 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 . 2 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 1869 the transcontinental railroad was completed ; gilman changed the firm s name to great atlantic & pacific tea company to promote the then new concept of prepackaged tea under the thea nector name . the tea company 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 collectables . 2 1878 1951 hartford era edit george huntington hartford mid 1870s . evolution of the grocery store edit 1888 advertisement for a & p from a norfolk virginia guidebook listing the range of items carried george huntington hartford 1833 1917 joined gilman & company as a clerk in 1861 ; 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 within days after the disaster . the firm rapidly expanded ; in 1875 a & p had stores in 16 cities . 2 in 1878 gilman left the active management of the firm to hartford . 16 by then the firm operated 70 lavishly equipped stores and a mail order business with combined annual sales of 1 million . 2 to raise revenue congress significantly 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 is 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 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 . 2 newspaper ad from new york city 1922 . 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 since 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 assets . under this agreement the gilman heirs received 1 250 000 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 . 7 at the end of the litigation a & p dropped to fifth nationally 2 and the hartfords moved to rebuild the enterprise . 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 . 7 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 s & h green stamps . by 1912 the corporation operated 400 stores and averaged a 22 % gross margin resulting in a 2 % profit . 2 a & p s peddlers were also operating 5