SAV-A-CENTER

'Sav-A-Center' is an A&P-owned chain of 20 supermarkets in the greater New Orleans, Louisiana metropolitan-area. The division operates locations throughout Louisiana and has 2 stores in Mississippi. (Three other stores in the Sav-A-Center area operate as A&Ps, including a nonstandard one in the French Quarter that has no parking lot)
In April, 2007, the chain exited the Baton Rouge market, closing its locations there. On May 30, 2007, A&P confirmed that it is planning to exit the New Orleans market and is actively seeking buyers for its 20 remaining Sav-A-Center stores. In A&P's statement, the company cited its decision to focus on its remaining operations in the Northeast, where it operates the majority of its stores.

Contents

A&P Sav-A-Center

Former Locations

Kohl's Sav-A-Center

Dominion Sav-A-Center

External links

A&P Sav-A-Center

The Sav-A-Center name was also added to many of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company's northeastern and Mid-South Atlantic stores in the mid-1980s, shortly after A&P purchased Stop & Shop's NYC-Metro division. Many of these Stop & Shop stores had previously been part of their supercenter program, where Stop & Shop paired its Bradlees discount department stores with its Stop & Shop supermarkets to form early supercenters. When the stores were sold to A&P, a common wall was built, and two separate stores were formed. In other areas, such as Tidewater/Hampton Roads, VA and North Carolina, traditional A&P Stores were remodeled as Sav-A-Centers and the traditional A&P sign's orange, red and yellow colors were all turned shades of kelly green.
In the Northeast, the purchased Stop & Shop stores were newer and larger than most of the traditional A&P stores, and the company tried to use the Sav-A-Center conversion as a part of their "We've Built a Proud New Feeling" campaign, which was created in an attempt to shed the company's high-price, stodgy perception. The campaign featured images of larger, cleaner, modern-style stores and happy, upscale-looking shoppers and friendly, cooperative staff. (It was during this time that A&P debuted its legendary A&P Future Stores.) The Sav-A-Center stores were completely renovated with oversized graphics of fresh-looking produce and baked goods and were outfitted with IBM-POS checkouts. But A&P had a hard time shedding its high-price perception and year after year, the low-volume Sav-A-Centers lost sales and shoppers to stores such as Pathmark and NYC area-leader ShopRite (Wakefern retailers' cooperative). Some of the stronger stores survived wave-after-wave of store closings and re-organizations, but many eventually closed or were re-branded in the mide-late 90's as A&P Food Market. In the case of A&P's Southeastern and Carolina Divisions, they were sold in 1998.

Former Locations

★ 'Armonk, New York': Now a Food Emporium

★ 'Bloomfield, New Jersey': Now an A&P Food Market

★ 'Barnegat, New Jersey': Now an A&P, still retaining its green roof.

★ 'Clark, New Jersey': Store was vacant for about 5 years; recently, it was razed and a new A&P Fresh Market was built.

★ 'Clifton, New Jersey': Former Bradlees-Stop & Shop Supercenter--Store was divided after both A&P and Bradlees went out of business; Kohls, Famous Footwear, and Jembro occupy the combined space now.

★ 'Croton On Hudson, New York': Now an A&P.

★ 'Denville, New Jersey': Built in 1961 as a 15,000 square foot A&P store; remodeled in the late 70's into a 35,000 sq. ft state-of-the-art store. A&P converted the store to an A&P Sav-A-Center sometime in the mid 1980's. The store closed in September, 2003 and an A&P Fresh Market now occupies the site.

★ 'Fairview, New Jersey': Now an A&P.

★ 'Fanwood, New Jersey': Now an A&P.

★ 'Fort Lee, New Jersey': Was converted to Food Emporium's only New Jersey store in 1998. Store was subsequently converted to an A&P Fresh market in 2006.

★ 'Glen Rock, New Jersey:' Now a Food Basics.

★ 'Greenburgh, New York': Store is still operating with its old "A&P Sav-A-Center" sign.

★ 'Kenilworth, New Jersey': Now a Super A&P Food Market.

★ 'Kinnelon, New Jersey': Closed in 1999 and the building was remodeled and is now a Rag Shop Crafts Store, but has recently closed.

★ 'Lodi, New Jersey': The store was located on the same lot as Modell's Shopper's World Department Store, which was later sold to National Wholesale Liquidators. The store was closed in 1996 and split between CVS and A&P Warehouse Liquors. The CVS closed when a Duane Reade was built across the street and the space was filled by a 99-cents store. The building has now been demolished.

★ 'Mahopac, New York': Now a Super A&P Food Market.

★ 'Marlboro, New Jersey': Now an A&P but store still retains its kelly green Sav-A-Center roof.

★ 'North Brunswick, New Jersey': Former Bradlees/Stop & Shop Supercenter; After both Bradlees and the A&P Sav-A-Center closed, the stores were vacant for years before being demolished and replaced with a new shopping center.

★ 'Nutley, NJ': Now a CVS

★ 'Passaic, New Jersey': Now a Food Basics.

★ 'Paterson, New Jersey': Now a Food Basics.

★ 'Peekskill, New York': Still operating with its old Sav-A-Center sign.

★ 'Pleasant Valley, New York': Now a Super A&P Food Market.

★ 'Saddle Brook, New Jersey:' While not a Sav-A-Center, store converted to Sav-A-Center colors around the same time as the others did. The store closed when an A&P Fresh Market was built several blocks away. Old store still sits vacant.

★ 'Staten Island, New York': Changed to a Waldbaum's then became a Kam Man Food for less than a year, currently vacant.

★ 'Wallington, New Jersey': Now a Food Basics.

★ 'Wayne, New Jersey': There were 2 A&P's in Wayne. The Valley Road location was an A&P Futurestore (still identified by its dramatically slanting fascade), eventually became a Sav-A-Center, and is now an A&P Food Market. The Route 23 location was a former Bradlees-Stop & Shop Supercenter--and is now a Kohls.

★ 'West Paterson, New Jersey': This was originally a 15,000 square foot weathervane-style store built in the early 1960's. The location later became a Sav-A-Center in 1990 and was closed in 1997 after a much larger A&P Food Market was built on an adjacent lot. The vacant store was divided in half after closure- one half is currently occupied by Party City, the other half, which had Sneaker Stadium, Just For Feet, and subsequently Harrow's as tenants, is now Golfsmith.

★ 'Westwood, NJ': Store is now a Trader Joe's/A&P Warehouse Liquors

★ 'Yorktown Heights, New York': Now an A&P Fresh Market.

Kohl's Sav-A-Center

In addition, after A&P purchased the Kohl's Food Stores chain in Wisconsin, a few of the stores were re-branded as Kohl's Sav-A-Center. These stores were later re-branded as Kohl's Food Market or Kohl's Food Emporium before the chain shut down.

Dominion Sav-A-Center

Beginning in the late 1980's, A&P Canada opened several stores in the Toronto area under the Sav-A-Center name. Their logo was the same as their American counterparts, with the exception of being red rather than green. In the late 1990's, these stores were rebranded as Dominion Sav-A-Centers (Dominion is another Canadian supermarket chain originated by A&P) and some are still in operation today.

External links

★ Sav-A-Center Website