My wife got the news today that A&P is filing for bankruptcy protection. She works for PathMark, which was bought by A&P a few years ago and the chain I worked for as a meat manager from 1981-1996 when I left the trade. Although the contract states otherwise, she is being told they will not let high seniority employees bump into other stores that are kept open. She is told that her store will close in 60 days which will leave her 1 week short of what she needs to retire and get her pension.
Jim I wonder if they still going to be doing this since they filing?
A&P Teams up with over 30 Local Farms to Bring Farmer’s Market to its Stores
Posted on Jul 7, 2015 by Arielle Sidrane.
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) announces it has teamed up with more than 30 local farms from Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania to offer its customers locally grown produce fresh from the farm this summer. Local produce will be in stores when in season in A&P, Food Basics, Pathmark, Superfresh, The Food Emporium and Waldbaum’s.
Seasonal produce will include fruits and berries such as blueberries, apples and peaches. Farmers will also provide more than 35 varieties of vegetables including beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, herbs, onions and tomatoes, company officials say.
“Farmers work extremely hard year round to provide their products to the community,” says Eric Kanterman, chief merchandising officer of A&P. “We are thrilled to offer our customers seasonal produce fresh from the farm in their neighborhood.”
Produce will be supplied by New Jersey farmers from Battiato Farms, Big Buck Farms, Catalano Farms, Clark Farms, Coia Farms, Dalponte Farms, Dandrea Produce, Demarco, Donio Farms, Gala Farms, Glossy Fruit, Gloucester Country Farms, Heilig Orchards, JSM Blueberries, Lanza Plantation, Larchmont Farms, Losasso Farms, Merlino Brothers Farm, Millrock Farms, Oakcrest Farms, South Fork Cultivated Blueberries, Stoney Creek Blueberries, Summit City Farms, Sunny Valley International, Whalen Farms and William Cappuccio and Son. Additionally, produce will be supplied by Delaware farmers from Magee Farms and Sheppard Farms, New York farmers from Piedmonte Farms and Torrey Farms and Pennsylvania’s Bright Farms.
“I am proud to see our family’s fresh produce on the shelves of A&P’s family of supermarkets and on the plates of local residents,” says Steve Dandrea, farmer of Dandrea Produce. “This collaboration with A&P allows us to expand our reach to customers who may not be able to travel to our farm.”
Dandrea Produce will also arrange a “Farmer’s Market” event in 11 of the company’s locations. A farmer from Dandrea Produce will meet with customers to educate them on local produce and the best time to buy.
Well my wife tells me they just put a lot of signwork and promotional material in her store for this.
She also told me they just installed a beautiful new seafood counter in the Folsom store, which was the last one I was a meat manager at. The DM was there to supervise the installation, and the next day he came back to announce the store was closing. Sounds like a big disconnect in communications and managing these stores.
Jim it's sad to hear the news about your wife, maybe the union will step in and do something. It's also sad to hear about A&P going down hill so bad, I've had old timers tell me that A&P was the big dog for many years
Jim it's sad to hear the news about your wife, maybe the union will step in and do something. It's also sad to hear about A&P going down hill so bad, I've had old timers tell me that A&P was the big dog for many years
Lady T-Bone,
Thanks. I think we'll be fine financially, but she does want to get her full pension. They have a deal in their contract called the "Golden 90" which means if your age and years of service equal 90, you can retire with full pension. She will be one week shy of this if they close the store on the date announced. By terms of the contract she should be able to bump into another store that remains open but the company is fighting this and that will probably be decided by the bankruptcy judge. Also, for those stores which are bought by another chain (Acme and Stop and Shop are mentioned as the buyers) it is also in the contract that the new owners must take the employees and the union contract but I hear that A&P and the buyers are also fighting this. Somewhat puzzling because Acme is also union with a similar contract.
I can see both sides here and have wondered how these companies can stay in business with the benefits they offer since the market has been entered by non-union operators like Walmart, BJs, Target, Giant, etc which don't provide benefits nearly as good to their employees.
On a personal note what is saddest to me is the demise of PathMark, my "alma mater" so to speak. When I worked for them they were the national leader in many areas, first to use scanners and had major input to the creation of the UPC. They led in sales per store and sales per square foot for many years and grew to 150 stores rather quickly. We had many stores that did over $1 million/week and I managed meat departments that did $150,000/week, and this was in the 1980's. Then it all turned around. The company got caught with its stock under-valued. We owned, not leased, our stores, our warehouses, our meat plants, our bakeries, our trucking company, etc. Some Wall Street wizard started buying up the stock and told us (the company and our unions) that he had no intention of operating the company but instead would liquidate its assets for the immediate profit. In desparation the company's founders turned to Merrily Lynch, borrowed several billion dollars, to buy up all the outstanding stock and turned the company private. That stopped the hostile takeover but soon Merrill Lynch was calling the shots as they wanted their money back. The company's founders were pushed out, replaced by money managers who had no roots in the business. Hours were cut, sales volume dropped, so more hours were cut, and sales volume dropped more. All the company's supporting assets like warehouses, plants, trucking company, etc., were sold for cash and those services were then contracted. The real estate was sold and then leased back. Eventually PathMark filed bankruptcy and when it came back, A&P bought it. Big mistake for both companies. And now here we are.
