Atlantic & Pacific (Food)

Company History: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American and Canadian chain of grocery stores that ceased supermarket operations in November 2015, after 156 years in business. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest food/grocery retailer in the United States (until 1965, the largest U.S. retailer of any kind). A&P was considered an American icon that according to The Wall Street Journal "was as well known as McDonald's or Google is today" and that A&P was "Walmart before Walmart." Known for innovation, A&P and the supermarkets that followed its lead significantly improved nutritional habits by making available a vast assortment of food products at much lower costs. Until 1982, A&P also was a large food manufacturer. In his 1952 book, American Capitalism, John Kenneth Galbraith cited A&P's manufacturing strategy as a classic example of countervailing power that was a welcome alternative to state price controls.

In 1859, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, known everywhere as A&P, began as a mail-order business located at 31 Vesey Street in downtown Manhattan. In 1936, A&P became the first national supermarket chain in the United States The company experienced financial and filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2010. March 13, 2012 it was announced that A&P had emerged from bankruptcy and was now a private company.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.