Memorabilia Day 1: A&P, Pathmark, & Waldbaum's!

Welcome to Day 1 of our Spring Memorabilia Extravaganza! We're starting with some old friends, looking at memorabilia from A&P, Pathmark, and Waldbaum's.

A&P

A&P had several coffee brands over the years, including Eight O'Clock (their most famous), Red Circle, Bokar, and plain ol' A&P. At the time this can was produced (I would estimate 1950s), their headquarters were in New York City. They would later move to Montvale, NJ, near the border of New York State.

A larger can from likely around the same time...

And some of the other brands A&P used...

A question I'd never considered, though: what was the difference among all these brands? Wikipedia offers some answers: Bokar was the premium coffee and Red Circle the mid-range brand, so Eight O'Clock was likely intended to be at the lower end of the market. I'm not positive whether that was the intention or how the brands evolved, though. A&P owned Eight O'Clock until 2003.

These containers are plentiful in many antique stores and flea markets.

A&P also sold tea bags under the "Our Own" brand, as seen here in glass jars:

Meanwhile, grocery items were under the Ann Page brand...

Spice containers, too, are pretty easy to find in antique stores, which is why I don't buy them unless they're a really interesting brand.

This gives us a good summary of the (apparently many) redesigns A&P did for the Ann Page brand.

We know these products were produced before 1974, when A&P moved to New Jersey. I would place these around the 1950s, and the turmeric above is likely from the 1960s.

And I would estimate these cans are around late 1950s/early 1960s...

This antique store had quite a few Ann Page items!

This black pepper looks to be around the same age as the turmeric, since the package design matches.

But notice that this one must be slightly later than the turmeric, as the headquarters are listed as Montvale. Notice too that the package displays the circular A&P logo. Between the presence of that logo and the Montvale address, we can date this black pepper to 1974-1976, and the turmeric to likely the early 1970s.

Eventually, A&P brought everything under their own brand, later to be replaced by America's Choice around 2000. Notice that in the 1970s, the kosher U certification started showing up on the packages.

I don't believe I'd ever seen this packaging style before. I would estimate that this package dates to the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Going back in time again to the mid-1970s, we find the Ann Page black pepper in a slightly different color scheme. This one is actually still in my grandmother's kitchen.

Again, we can date it as post-1974 (when A&P moved to Montvale) but pre-1976 (when A&P changed their logo).

And one more piece of memorabilia, one from the Kenilworth location in 2003!

Pathmark

Now on to Pathmark, with this beauty spotted (and subsequently purchased) at an antique store in Allentown, PA. Judging by a combination of the Pathmark graphics and the toy truck itself (you may recall that I collect toy trucks in addition to, um, pictures of supermarkets), I would place this in roughly the late 80s or early 90s -- though it's also possible it's from the early 80s.

The truck itself is a Yatming, I believe, a lower-end toy car and truck brand from China that made lots of similar branded things as well as their own line.

For a larger scale Pathmark truck, likely from the mid-90s, here's what I found in an antique store...

...and some other cars, such as this which I would estimate from the "fresh" slogan is from around 2000.

And something in my own collection, a recipe for oatmeal cookies based on what seems to be a bulk foods program I didn't even know existed.

Here's a scan of the recipe:

It was quite the surprise to find this Pathmark bathroom cleaner in the closet of a Worcester, MA apartment. Pathmark never had stores in MA as far as I know.

And also in my grandmother's house, these Pathmark light bulbs (my guess is early 00s, and the box has a 2000 copyright)...

Waldbaum's

Not a lot of Waldbaum's memorabilia that I have, but here's a little matchbook with the w-crown logo that was used from 1960 to 1987. That's all for A&P, Pathmark, and Waldbaum's, but tomorrow we'll be taking a look at ACME and Shaw's!