When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

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retail_person_247
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When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

Post by retail_person_247 »

I found this A&P filing report from 1994:

http://getfilings.com/o0000043300-94-000011.html

The report says there were 4 A&P location in RI

http://getfilings.com/o0000043300-96-000015.html

This filing from 1996 doesn't even mention the state of RI

So that would mean that A&P left the state sometime between 1994-1996

I found this old newspaper about A&P opening new stores (larger super stores) in the state. One of which being from 1986 and the other one being from the next year in 1987

https://richmondhistoricalsociety.files ... p-1986.pdf

The store from 1987 was apparently in Wyoming, RI (Richmond)

There was an old A&P in Wyoming but it was a centennial store:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Famil ... gIgARICCAI

Looking at the Google Street View I noticed that the enter & exit signs (which have since been replaced) had the old Stop & Shop logo on them (although its covered and kind of hard to make out):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Famil ... gIgARICCAI

Did A&P built their new store in Wyoming (RI) next to their older centennial location? And if that is true, would that mean that the newer store would later become a Stop & Shop?

Another thing worth noting is that according to the locations list for Newport, RI an A&P seems to be listed as having a location at 250 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI 02840 until 1981.

So when did A&P officially leave Rhode Island and close their last store in the state? And where were the newer, larger, super stores?
Last edited by retail_person_247 on 08 Aug 2022 21:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

Post by retail_person_247 »

One thing I forgot to mention is this newspaper article from 1995 about Edwards super food stores acquiring several A&P locations. According to the news article, Several of the A&P locations being acquired are "In or near Rhode Island"

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticu ... story.html
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retail_person_247
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Re: When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

Post by retail_person_247 »

I found this union (?) pamphlet from 1988 and on page 7 it lists A&P as having 2 locations in RI with those being Newport and Richmond

https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermo ... 88_001.pdf

I always thought that A&P left Rhode Island sometime in the 70s at the very latest
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Re: When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

Post by BillyGr »

retail_person_247 wrote: 09 Jun 2022 21:20 I found this union (?) pamphlet from 1988 and on page 7 it lists A&P as having 2 locations in RI with those being Newport and Richmond

https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermo ... 88_001.pdf

I always thought that A&P left Rhode Island sometime in the 70s at the very latest
Not surprising - they had a habit of mostly leaving an area while keeping a small quantity of scattered stores.
For instance, they were out of Upstate NY mostly after the earlier 1980's, but the very last store near Albany (in a small town about 5 miles away) stuck around until April of 1997. Even further north, there were a couple (Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake) that didn't close until around 2000!
And one out in Margaretville (west of Kingston) was there even later (the closest to that then were at least an hour+ further south/east, like Pleasant Valley - that was the border of the stores that stayed open until the final bankruptcy).
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Re: When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

Post by retail_person_247 »

retail_person_247 wrote: 08 Jun 2022 19:11 One thing I forgot to mention is this newspaper article from 1995 about Edwards super food stores acquiring several A&P locations. According to the news article, Several of the A&P locations being acquired are "In or near Rhode Island"

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticu ... story.html
Edwards acquired several A&P locations in 1995. The first filing with the A&P locations is from a year before in 1994. The next filing report with no locations in RI is from a year after the acquisition in '96.

Considering that the store in Newport is currently a Stop & Shop and the one in Wyoming (Richmond) had former S&S entrance & exit signs (which I've pointed out in my earlier post), and that the reaming Edwards stores in New England were converted to S&S in 2000 (the ones outside of NE were later Tops markets),

Does this mean that the supposed former A&P locations in Newport & Wyoming lasted until 1995 and were acquired by Edwards?
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Re: When did A&P leave Rhode Island?

Post by retail_person_247 »

Ok so I've done research and here's what I've found

A&P left Rhode Island in 1995 after selling all of the remaining locations in the state (and some stores in surrounding states) to Edwards Super Food Stores. All remaining A&P stores in RI would be converted to Edwards locations. At the time of the acquisition there were 3 locations in the state, as follows;

250 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI 02840
1190H Main St, Richmond, RI 02898
1000 Division St, East Greenwich, RI 02818


250 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI 02840; possibly didn't become Edwards?, Currently Stop & Shop

1190H Main St, Richmond, RI 02898; Opened in '86 or '87, new store was located right next to an older Centennial location, Was apparently open 24 hours except on a Sunday, Possibly became Edwards? Was later Stop & Shop, which appears to be a short lived location due to them moving up the street to 3 Stilson Rd, having been operating at that location since at least 2000 according to the Wayback Machine, entrance & exit signs still had the S&S logo on them as I've point out on a previous post here

1000 Division St, East Greenwich, RI 02818; Became Edwards, sold to Ro-Jack's (who acquired most if not all Edwards locations in RI in 1996, one year after the acquisition of A&P locations), currently Dave's Marketplace
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