The Sega of Thriftway/Shop 'N Bag

[Ephrata1966]

Am I wrong or is there only one Thriftway and Shop 'N Bag each left from the Acme/A&P/Food Fair/Penn Fruit reorganizations years ago? I am thinking of the "Holiday" Thriftway in the Frankford section of North Philadelphia and the Shop 'N Bag on Welsh in Northeast Philadelphia.

And is it true the "original" Shop 'N Bag in Aston was originally planned as a replacement for the nearby 50's Acme (now a fitness center, closed in 2004 when Giant quietly opened in the old A&P center nearby)? What I do know for sure is that the Shop 'N Bag franchisee had Fleming's approval to rip off the A&P/Thriftway and put it out of business. Ironically, Super Fresh replaced their aging Chichester store nearby (was a later A&P) around the same time. The new Super Fresh was paired with a Caldor and AMF bowling alley of all things as co-anchors. They did a remodel in 2004 most likely to discourage Wal-Mart/Walmart (who took over the Caldor) from messing with them. That attempt failed and they followed with conversion to Pathmark in recent years. At least the store still has a Wine & Spirits (State Store) in it, which outlived the Zagara's/FoodSource down the road in Glen Mills which had one, even though Glen Mills is rich and Chichester is relatively poor. Funny, to compete with the opening of FoodSource, the 1990 Genuardi's close by did a remodel but closed last year. I heard a rumor years ago that Wal-Mart/Walmart wanted to bribe Super Fresh to turn the place into a "Neighborhood Market". And they were also eyeing the ancient Marlton NJ Super Fresh, which was similar to the original Chichester A&P, for demolition. The A&P center (once an enclosed "mini mall") was at one time anchored by a small Kmart, later Sears Essentials. And for a while Chichester and Havertown/Manoa were A&P's only remains in Delaware County, but that all changed when they bought Pathmark. Funny, years ago I confused the Super Fresh "America's Choice" store brand with a Wal-Mart/Walmart brand...

[maynesG]

Hi, I can!t honestly say about the thriftway and Shop & Bag store question. But I can answer your Shop & Bag Aston Township question. The Shop & Bag was built to be a Shop &Bag and not and Acme. Fleming Oaks management after the great strike that saw about 40% of their business go to other suppliers decided that the only way to expand their business was to lend money to members to build new stores from the ground up.
It was a failure, within a few years Fleming was out of Oaks and was supplying store from its North East facility. Examples, of these stores built in this time period are the now closed Safeway on route 7 in Bear DE. and the former Thriftway in Middletown De and Cooks Thritway in Smyrna. I believe there were at least 8 stores a few in New Jersey are still running.
The Oaks warehouse was simply to large for the operation that they had. The desertion of Browns Shop & Bags simply killed them . I believed that Browns built at least one or two stores with this program only to change banners about this time.
Gerry

[Ephrata1966]

Thanks! Was this in Oaks Pennsylvania? And did the Exton Shop 'N Bag (later Clemens) and Coatesville (Charlie's) Thriftway/Bottom Dollar Food have anything to do with this?

[maynesG]

Hi, Yes in both cases. The Giant next to the closed Acme in West Chester was a Giuntas and also would be one of these stores. There are others , I believe there was one on route 30 a Shop &Bag outside of West Chester that was also built about this time. If the others come to me I will let you know. Gerry PS Yes the Fleming warehouse and office was in Oaks Pa down the street from Genuardis small warehouse that existed to keep Fleming honest.