A&P stores in Maine in 1990s

[jamiel]

Were there any A&P stores left in Maine in the 1990s? I spent a couple weeks in Bangor for work, and the off weekend took a drive out to New Brunswick, and vaguely recall one east of there which was a very ramshackle looking building (didn't seem to be a Centennial--was more like a general store which had been added onto multiple times). This would have been in the spring of 1993...curious if anyone knows.

[BillyGr]

I do not know, but certainly a possibility, especially in one of the smaller towns. After all, we had one location here in NY until 1997 (in an area where most had closed a decade plus earlier) and a couple in the northern part of the state held on even longer.

[nysw3636]

Here is a link to an Annual Report from THE GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, INC. showing stores as of February 26, 1994. It lists stores per state, but not actual locations. As of the date of this link, 2 stores were operating in Maine. I was curious myself, so looked it up...


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

[BillyGr]

Look for the site of Calais alumni . org - Calais is a small town in Maine that fits the original poster's description (it is actually a small point of ME surrounded by New Brunswick on 3 sides), and would be a logical routing from Bangor into Canada as the poster suggested.

The site has some photos of an older store in Main St. and a later version (not 1990's, but maybe 1970's, based on the cars), so between knowing that they had an A&P even then, and the company's actions elsewhere keeping some of these small, isolated stores open, it wouldn't be surprising to see that being one of those two listed still in ME in 1994.

[nysw3636]

Look for the site of Calais alumni . org - Calais is a small town in Maine that fits the original poster's description (it is actually a small point of ME surrounded by New Brunswick on 3 sides), and would be a logical routing from Bangor into Canada as the poster suggested.

The site has some photos of an older store in Main St. and a later version (not 1990's, but maybe 1970's, based on the cars), so between knowing that they had an A&P even then, and the company's actions elsewhere keeping some of these small, isolated stores open, it wouldn't be surprising to see that being one of those two listed still in ME in 1994.

While doing some more research on this subject, I came across 5 stores that were still operating in Maine in 1989. This came from this message board under "A&P in New Hampshire". I'll post the link at the bottom. The 5 stores operating were Eastport, Greenville, Machias, Waterville, and Dover/Foxcroft. The only 2 that were east of Bangor were Machias and Eastport, with Eastport being on the New Brunswick border. I hope I didn't break any rules on this reply post.

https://www.groceteria.ca/board/viewtop ... =16&t=3302

[BillyGr]

Glad you spotted that post. Looks like it could be either of those, all depending on what routing was taken fro Bangor (as one could access Eastport via the route that goes through the Calais area, or could go more towards Bar Harbor and pick up US 1 there to go north towards Eastport, which goes right through Machias as well).

Gets confusing with these posts from several years back, that you even forgot you replied to once (and apparently, with that NH post never saw the last reply to answer that one).

[the506]

This IGA in Lubec ME (the most easterly town in the US) is also an obvious former A&P:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.8578382, ... 328!8i1664