Some retailers are in such a good location that when they outgrow their building, they decide to move elsewhere within the same mall. That's clearly the case with A&P here in Millburn, NJ. After opening a Centennial-styled store in the 1950s at one end of the shopping mall, A&P later decided to move to the other end in the 1970s. The older store is now a Harmon Discount drugstore:
You really can't miss that A&P facade. The left side of the store has been turned into a Panera restaurant.
A shopping mall with offices on the second floor extends out of the side of the old A&P building, with a facade that replicates the A&P building style.
Here we're looking from the older A&P, in the foreground, towards the newer one in the background. The 1970s building, with a new facade, has become a CanDo Fitness Center.
You can see the store would have originally had a Centennial-like facade, but later tenants added the new facade in front.
An overview of the whole plaza. The Springfield ShopRite, which we'll see a Snapshot of on Monday, is located directly across the street.
While researching the history of the ShopRite of Springfield, I also researched the history of the former Millburn A&P. Below are the results of that research:
ReplyDelete*The Millburn A&P opened on August 20, 1957. While I am aware of other Centennials which opened during the second half of 1957, I am not sure I have come across a Centennial that opened this early.
*Though I myself may be wrong, it appears that this shopping center was never home to two A&Ps. Actually, I believe that the building which you identified as A&P's first supermarket in the shopping center was never a supermarket. Rather, historic aerials show that a shopping center was built alongside the A&P sometime between 1957 and 1966, and that this new addition was intentionally built to resemble the Centennial architecture of the A&P.
*Historic aerial images also show that the A&P was expanded during the 1970s, although I do not know exactly when the supermarket was enlarged. The beautiful Centennial facade was obstructed as a result of this expansion, although I cannot tell if the store subsequently had a mansard roof that was typical of many 1970s A&Ps.
*The Millburn A&P appears to have closed in March 1985.
*Google Street View shows that the entire A&P shopping center was painted blue (or blue-gray) sometime between June 2022 and June 2023.
Thanks for the details! No, you're totally right -- there was only one A&P here.
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