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Nostalgia Lane with A & P. The first grocery chain, and I remember well the store in the 1950s at Harlem and Madison in Oak Park/Forest Park, Illinois. Didn’t know they were still around.

A&P was a big name in Western PA when I was growing up. In those days supermarkets were open only Monday to Saturday and closed at 9 pm. The A&P (and probably the other supermarkets) would mark down baked goods and other perishables on Saturday night because they didn't want to keep them till Monday. My Dad loved those little lunch pies; he would pack one in his lunch every day. So every Saturday night, around 8 pm, Dad would be at the A&P waiting for the manager to mark down those pies. Dad would stock up for the week.

A&P also was the exclusive carrier of 8 O’Clock Coffee. That was really good coffee. I understand the brand made a comeback a few years ago, but coffee connoisseurs tell me it's not the same.

A few are still around.

Back in the day, they were one of the *first* supermarkets in town ....caused quite a flutter, I remember, those wide isles and massive variety of goods, seemed to be a wonderland. My mother loved their coffee.

Ours looked a lot like this....along with Finest's arrival, it pretty much put the era a mom&pop grocery stores on every corner, to an end.