A&P and vinegar in the 1960s

[chuffle]

Perhaps this should be posted in the "As The tub turns" section, but vinegar is used in cooking and cleaning...

After posting in another thread about the state of detergent aisles here in the States and reminiscing a bit about the past, I had a flashback to something that I haven't thought about in decades. Back in the 60s, we had an A&P supermarket in my little burgh, and I remember that my parents would buy their cider vinegar there. They would take their glass gallon jug to the back of the store, and using a hand pump, fill the jug from a large barrel of vinegar. In the buggy the jug would go, to be rung up with the other groceries. Of course, that was back in the days when the cashier would enter the price of every item to be tallied by the cash register. I remember stock boys would use a little white stamper and stamp the price (in purple ink) on most products as they were stocked on the shelves.

Just wondering if any other A&P store sold vinegar in bulk like that? We seem to be much more hygienic nowadays. Of course, back then, that very same store scattered sawdust on the floor in the front of the store during winter, the sawdust soaking up the slush tracked in by shoppers (the sawdust would be cleaned up at the end of the shopping day, with fresh put down the following morning). Times have sure changed!

Joe

 

[petek]

Prior to kindergarten in 61 I would go with my mom pulling a wagon (her pulling me) to our local A&P since she didn't drive . I don't remember any bulk cider vinegar. Just the coffee grinders, the baskets they'd put on those roller conveyors which sent your groceries outside to be picked up in the car and we always went to the same cashier who had big hair because according to ma she was the fastest and knew all the prices without looking. 

 

[supersuds]

I remember all the other stuff you mention -- the purple price stamps, sawdust -- but not the vinegar.

Another thing was that the service desk had a pile of blank checks for people to use if they forgot their check books. You just took one off the stack, wrote in the name of your bank, and filled it in. They cashed it!

Even when I was 5 or 6 I thought that was pretty amazing.

 

[chuffle]

More times than not,

my father cashed his paycheck at the A&P service desk. I guess it was more convenient to cash a paycheck there and then do the grocery shopping than it was to stop at the bank - there were no drive through banking facilities here in town then.

One other thing that I recall was that we always had A&P Spanish bar cake (was it branded "Jane Parker?") in the house - my father always took a slice of it in his metal lunch bucket. Many a time, we would also get the pecan ring. Entenmann's pecan Danish ring tastes pretty much like the old A&P version.

Joe

 

[nurdlinger]

Our A&P cashed checks too

But it wasn't at a "service desk". There was a small cubicle with high walls up against one of the exterior walls, which was called the "manager's office". Check cashing was accomplished via a window in one of these walls. There was also a camera and they took your picture when they cashed your check. That's how I remember it anyway, I was a little kid.

The "Jane Parker" baked item we always seemed to have around was the "Jelly Roll", a flat sponge cake with red jelly spread on it and rolled up.

 

[danemodsandy]

A & P's....

....Were a highly variable shopping experience at midcentury.

They had quite a number of up-to-date stores, but they also had a lot of older stores that were time-warps to other eras, like the early '50s, the '40s and even the '30s. I remember one on Euclid Avenue in Atlanta in the early '70s that was straight out of 1937. But I also remember one in Forest Park that was the most modern store in town at the time.

The store you shopped at might well have been unique; A & P had a lot of stores that were.

 

[whirlaway]

A&P

I worked at the one here from 15 to 19 years of age.Ours was built in 39 one of the first airconditioned and self-service meat counters.I luved Anne Page cakes and their meats were unsurpassed to what you get today.Our air-conditioning system was in a deep trough in the back room had two huge compressors on each side of a giant electric motor,it had like 4or six belts that it and a wooden cooling tower on the roof.Sure kept us cool and comfortable while we worked. We did have electric conveyers at the registers but wooden handels to pull the groceries to us.We had at the end of each counter a big red Hobart coffee grinder to grind fresh 8oclock coffee.It smelled so good!!!! The store is still there but now a wine and cheese shop.

 

[franksdad]

A&P Stores have been gone from our area for decades now.  Around 1970 or 71 A&P Stores tried to make a revival in the Greenville area rebadged as "Family Mart."  They didn't succeed.  I remember Each Christmas my Mama would buy a Jane Parker fruitcake from A&P.  For several years after A&P left the Greenville market either Bi-Lo or Ingles was allowed to sell Jane Parker fruitcakes at Christmas.   A Jane Parker fruitcake was a Christmas tradition in our household.  My fondest memory of A&P Stores is also the only memory I have of my paternal grandmother who died when I was a child.  My parents, sister Betty, and I went to Brookhaven, Mississippi back in 1960 to visit my paternal grandmother.  I remember going to the A&P in Brookhaven with my grandmother who bought a frozen apple pie.  I was so excited because we were actually going to have a store bought frozen apple pie!  My Mama only made homemade apple pies.    

 

[hunter]

you can still buy 'em

Take a look at the link - Jane Parker fruitcakes are available via internet.

http://www.apfreshonline.com/pages_myAP_PR_jp.asp

 

[whirlcool]

Back when I was in college "counter checks" were quite common in the college town where I lived. Just grab a check from your bank and complete it and you were good to go! This would have been around 1975 or so.
Does anyone know when these fell out of use?

 

[franksdad]

Jane Parker fruitcakes are available via internet

Thanks Hunter!  I never knew or thought about looking on the internet for JP fruitcake!

 

[petek]

There's a forgotten memory brought back,, the check cashing window/ camera at the store office. Mom would take in her Baby Bonus cheque.   Don't laugh.. that's what they were called,, issued monthly by the fed govt. Not sure if they still have them. 

 

[mtn1584]

A&P still around in NY & NJ

My son just got his first job as a cashier in a local A&P. They have around 100 A&P stores left in NY, NJ and Fairfield County CT. They also own Waldbaums and Pathmark both on Long Island, and NYC. Pathmark in NJ as well. The Food Emporium in Manhattan and Superfresh in South Jersey and the Philly area. All in all I think they have a little over 300 stores left, all rather large, some really busy, some not, and they just came out of bankruptcy for the first time in company history. Their "centennial" style stores can still easily be recognized throughout the country. They have great weekly sales, but their regular prices are sky high. I still think they have the best meat of any chain in the NY/NJ/CT metro area. Several years ago they sold the "Eight o'clock" coffee business which was an A&P staple for years. I loved the smell of the coffee being ground in those big red grinders on the front end.
Mike

 

[chuffle]

Yeah...

...when I was a kid, my parents bought Eight O'clock coffee, and had it ground at the checkout counter. The car always smelled so good after, because we had to shop at two other supermarkets every Wednesday evening. While not A&P related, those shopping trips often meant buying bread at another market in town - six loaves of bread for $1.00. Of course, what did a gallon of gasoline cost back then, 30 cents?

Joe

 

[hunter]

Eight O'Clock coffee is still available.

It's sold at Safeway and Walmart. I'm drinking some now Perked in my vintage GE electric percolator.

 

[danemodsandy]

Eight O'Clock Coffee....

....Is still available, as you note, EXCEPT for the one I like, which is Bokar. You can get it online, but I never see it in stores, even those that carry Eight O'Clock.

My regular brew is Chase & Sanborn, but Bokar is a real treat for special occasions. Very hard to get now.

 

[chuffle]

I've been looking for...

Bokar for ages. I've seen it online, but I keep hoping that I will find some in my travels - sort of the thrill of the hunt.

Joe

 

[petek]

I'm pretty sure Bokar is still available here but I wouldn't bet on it.  I'll take a look next trip . I think Walmart and Metro (the former A&P) are the two local stores that sell it in town.   BTW mixing some Bokar beans in with the regular 8'Oclock gave it a little more punch. 

 

We usually get the beans from Costco.. made by starbucks I think..