Possible former Centennial A&P

[Ephrata1966]

The Super Fresh in New Castle, Delaware was clearly a 1970s A&P. This appears to have been the "twin" of the A&P in Lindenwold, NJ which opened in 1976.

But did this store replace a Centennial (demolished perhaps), or was it even built as one? I ask because the pylon sign looks older than the current store. The pylon still has the first Super Fresh logo, and probably last had the capsule A&P logo. But the only other stores with pylon signs like this I have seen were small, early Centennials. A few examples would be Hammonton NJ, Berlin NJ, West Chester PA, and Folcroft PA. Also note the former "Centennial" 7-Eleven in the parking lot, which would be from 1960-something.

What other styles of pylon sign did A&P use? This is the only kind I am familiar with, which this store had: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrew-tur ... 424482868/

Also, I suspect the Do it Best hardware store down the road was a 1940s A&P. Realize there were two Acmes and two Food Fairs in New Castle at one time as well.

[maynesG]

Hi, The A&P in New Castle I believe was built in the late 50!s early 1960!s It was built in response to the Acme in Swarnwick ( now the Rite Aide). The hardware store migth have been the A&P that old time residents of Swanwick and Collins Park have told me, that the new A&P
was built to replace. Hope It Helps
Also, on that note the former FoodFaire /Thriftway on route 141 and 13 is being converted into a Sav A Lot. I am not sure if the Old Acme/Sav A Lot store on the Southbound lane of 13 will stay open or not. It is only one of two, two front Acmes still in existance. The other is in New Jersey and is still and Acme. The New Castle unit lost its Front entrance when Sav A Lot took over.

[Ephrata1966]

But was there an earlier building on the current Super Fresh site? Or perhaps was the building at the other end (now Family Dollar) once the A&P?

And perhaps the other local Food Fair (now Pep Boys) was once a Thriftway?

[maynesG]

Hi, The Food Fair on route 13 that is a PEP Boys was never a Thriftway and closed prior the colapse of the chain. It was replaced by the Food Fair/ Thriftway/ SavA Lot on Route 141.
If you are ever in the area stopr at the Hot Dog Hut next to the Pep Boys and check out
the collection of photos on the wall. You will see several of hte Food Fair fromm Grand Opening to clossing for that store. By the way the Dogs are good.
As far as the Super Fresh building not being the original A&P in that center, Its possible.
They did some thing similar in Smyrna, where they built two stores in the same lot ten years apart.
Gerry

[Ephrata1966]

Was the first A&P in Smyrna ever a Grossman's hardware/lumber store? That was what happened to the A&P Centennial in Marlton, NJ which was open from 1965-1975. The rest is history. John S. Flack (JSF0864 on Flickr) has worked at the "new" store since it became a Super Fresh. Take a look at this "new" store now... very odd that it was given a new sign in 1994, but it still had the old Super Fresh logo... still does.

And the Marlton Centennial soon became one of the very first Staples stores. So did the 1954 A&P in Bryn Mawr PA, 1966 Acme (NOT an A Frame) in Willow Grove PA, and old Penn Fruit in Springfield, Delaware County PA (had been a Channel hardware/lumber store). What is sort of ironic is that Rickel hardware/lumber was owned by Pathmark, then bought Channel, and many Rickel stores became Staples.

[maynesG]

Hi! The first A&P in Smyrna became a Goodwill store. The first A&P in the Smyrna Mart became
a furniture store, then an Zayers,then an Aimes and since has been split up into smaller stores.

Hope It Helps Gerry

[werememberretail]

Hi! The first A&P in Smyrna became a Goodwill store. The first A&P in the Smyrna Mart became
a furniture store, then an Zayers,then an Aimes and since has been split up into smaller stores.

Hope It Helps Gerry

Where is Smyrna in Delaware ?
Kinda off topic but this info is a first I didn't know any Zayre's stores exhisted in Delaware. I thought they were just in New England, Baltimore/Washington The Midwest, Southeast and Florida. i thought they seemingly purposedly skipped NY and Philly/NJ/Del, though their spinoff, TJ Maxx was in the latter areas early on.

[Ephrata1966]

Merry Christmas!

Smyrna is in central/southern Delaware, a little north of Dover and not far east of Chestertown, Maryland (home of a restored Acme A Frame). The Chestertown Super Fresh may have replaced the small Centennial A&P downtown which is today a Dollar General.

I believe Zayre may have operated in Texas at one time too. What is really strange is how Zayre stores were so typical for the 60's and 70's, but T.J. Maxx seems like a store right out of 1985.

[werememberretail]

Merry Christmas!

Smyrna is in central/southern Delaware, a little north of Dover and not far east of Chestertown, Maryland (home of a restored Acme A Frame). The Chestertown Super Fresh may have replaced the small Centennial A&P downtown which is today a Dollar General.

I believe Zayre may have operated in Texas at one time too. What is really strange is how Zayre stores were so typical for the 60's and 70's, but T.J. Maxx seems like a store right out of 1985.

and a merry one to you , MaynesG,David (our Host) runchadrun,Steve,Edric,jimbob,Andrew Turnbull, Josh Austin,John S Flack and all on the Groceteria and Retail Watchers Boards.

now on the topic of Smyrna:
its near MD, so probably this was an extention of Zayre's Baltimore/Washington division. and Zayre did operate stores as west as Louisiana when it bough the Gaylords stores in the south, but that's as west as they got.
Back to the topic I think A+P began opening new model relocations in these markets (when store expansions were impossible) at a large pace in the 1980s as this was the engine of their renaissance, especially in Super Fresh-branded markets

[Ephrata1966]

I have looked on Historicaerials.org, and it appears that in the year 1970 there was a Centennial on the current site. Not sure if it was demolished or just remodeled. Remodeling of Centennials was rare for A&P back then. The Marlton NJ one indeed relocated after 10 years. In fact, the two might have been a mile apart.

[maynesG]

I was in the area on my day off and I stopped into the Super Fresh picked up a few items and asked the Assistant Manager if this was the original store. He told me that he had worked in this store in the 70!s as a kid when it was A&P and as far as he knew it was the only A&P in this center. He grew up in New Castle.
In looking around the store is extremely small , about the size of the old Middletown A&P/ Thriftway/ Sears store. So, I believe that this store was born a colonial about 1960, has the Kelly green paint job in the inside that all of the original Super Fresh stores had, and you can see
how they moved the original small deli to the front alcove and created a Deli /Bakery in a small space. They then expanded the meat department a few feet.
The store is profitable, with extremly good sales per square footage.
The city of New Castle now only has only This Super Fresh , The Pathmark and two Save A Lots in the city limits to shop in. At one time two Acmes, and A&P/Super Fresh as well as two Food Fairs served the city.

[Ephrata1966]

Gerry, today was my day off and I went bowling in New Castle before checking out the Super Fresh. Apparently the Advance Auto Parts next door was the original Rite Aid in town! This makes me think this center along with the Acme center in Sharon Hill are owned by the same company. Both could have been first built in 1959. Rite Aid would have added stores to both around 1990, which moved around 1999. The old one in Sharon Hill is a furniture store now. And I realized highway 295 is sort of a shortcut between the Super Fresh and the one in Marlton, NJ.

[maynesG]

HI, I guess that could be. I am some what amazed that New Castle only is now served by only that A&P on one side of town and a Pathmark, along with a Sav A Lot that relocated to the old Thriftway building. It wasn!t all that long ago that the town had two Acmes,an A&P and a Food Fair/Thriftway and a Pathmark.