A&P’s bankruptcy announcement is not just the second one for the company in the past five years, but it is also effectively the death knell of a once great retail institution. The company that declared bankruptcy this time around was a mere shell of its former self and is in the process of selling off its assets and likely closing whatever remains.  Most of the better locations have already been accounted for by competitors eager to enter or expand their presence in the Northeast.
This is likely the end of one of the truly iconic companies in retail. Besides the self-proclaimed moniker—the “Great” Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company was truly one of the most important companies in retail history. A&P was far and away America’s largest retailer, period, but also a true innovator as a vertically integrated manufacturer and retailer of products. Private label essentially owes its beginnings to A&P, with brands like Ann Page, Jane Parker and Eight O’Clock coffee examples of its store brands.
At one time, A&P operated an astounding 16,000 stores and was America’s second largest company behind General Motors. Times have indeed changed.
Like many tragedies, A&P’s path to irrelevance occurred over a long period of time. In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway’s character famously answers the question as to how he went bankrupt by saying, “Gradually, then suddenly.”
The company found itself slow to react and adapt in an industry where constant change is a must. Failures to react to large scale supermarkets, Walmart Supercenters and a litany of new competitors eventually led to a slow retrenchment back to the Northeast. A last ditch acquisition of rival Pathmark saddled the company with debt and more underperforming stores, cementing the company’s fate rather than creating a regional power.
It is not that A&P didn’t try. I have visited dozens of new prototypes from the company over the past several decades, from the Black & White Futurestore, Sav-A-Center and I can even answer the unlikely trivia question of “What does A&P WEO stand for”?  The answer is, “Where Economy Originates” and this was one of A&P’s strategies to move to discounting during the recession of the early 1970’s.  Like many of A&P’s efforts, the store could be summed up by saying “Great Concept, Lousy Execution”.
In the end, A&P was no longer “great” at anything.  They will soon become a footnote in retail history and another painful reminder that success is not a guarantee.