Groceteria.com

This is an A&P in Richmond (7300 Midlothian Turnpike/Beaufont Mall) that opened about 1978, closing in 1985. Obviously, it was never particularly successful - it was in what was then a main shopping district, directly across the street from the then "big mall" (Cloverleaf), but I suppose it just wasn't a grocery shopping area. It didn't even make it to the Farmer Jack/Super Fresh days.

My question - is this any particular "type" of A&P? It's obviously not a "Centennial" and it seems to me to be pretty close to the "Futurestore". I don't know if anyone can tell from the picture, but I'd like to know.

This to me looks like the mid-70's A&P prototype, the one before the Futurestore.

There is a former store in Hudson (Greenport) NY that looks similar (with the center section that sticks out from the rest of the building) - it's now an Aldi's and has a bit of a peak, but they may have added that.

I know it closed in the 1980's, but am not sure exactly when, probably 81-85 timeframe.

A picture is on the Ames Fan Club board (http://www.amesfanclub.com/forum/index.php - look under grocery stores for the A&P post).

It was a pretty common prototype for A&P in the 1970s. We discussed similar stores in this thread a while back:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=52

Groceteria wrote:It was a pretty common prototype for A&P in the 1970s. We discussed similar stores in this thread a while back:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=52

I looked at the Dutch Square picture before I posted but for some reason didn't want to equate the Beaufont store with the Dutch Square store. I haven't been to Dutch Square in a while and in my mind I think the two are different, but I could well be wrong.

For what it's worth, this was the next-to-last new A&P in Richmond. Since it closed as an A&P, the building was vacant for a good while, leading me to believe A&P "ate" the lease for a long, long time.

Dave wrote:I looked at the Dutch Square picture before I posted but for some reason didn't want to equate the Beaufont store with the Dutch Square store. I haven't been to Dutch Square in a while and in my mind I think the two are different, but I could well be wrong.

There are differences within the format, but I think they all end up looking somewhat similar. The big thing I've noticed is that this seemed to be a very prevalent design among stores that were mall outbuildings. I don't know if it was an A&P or not, but I saw yet another one in Columbia (in the parking lot of Columbia Mall) this afternoon when I was down there with my parents visiting a relative.

There's also a very similar one on Albmemarle Road in Charlotte (now a Save-a-Lot and a thrift store) that opened about 1975. I believe they also retrofitted some older shopping center locations into this look in the 1970s as well.

There is an abandond A&P supermarket out here on long island in patchogue. It was a 60's style store. It has been abandond since the early 80's.