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jamiel

jamiel

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Just wandered through K-Mart and they're now selling a new lineup of low(er) end products from Mexico--Cloralex bleach (both chlorine and H2O2), Pinol detergent (liquid and powder), Pinalen (pine-oil cleaners and so-forth). The company is AlEn--you sometimes see their merchandise at Mexican stores. I bought some of the H2O2 bleach because it was reasonably priced ($2.49/half gallon) and I wanted to get some to clean some athletic wear that's gotten a little stinky.
 
Delaney,

Americas Choice brand was a local large Chain supermarkets private label and has not been made for years. Hard to believe there is any left by now.
I don't recall, but A&P may have also used it, as they were the subsequent parent company, now also defunct.
I have selective memory of years 2006, and '07. Bad years for almost 4,000 employees locally.
Half of those had been with the company for two, three, or four decades.
The eldest were able to retire, but anyone from their upper 40's to age 55 or so not, unless they took a reduced pension, or cashed in part or all of their 401k's early.
Jobs of any type here were very scarce regardless of the salaries.
Kroger bought 22 of the 66 stores left, and only hired a handful of part time employees, a few managers, and no supervision. I was one of them out on the street after 31 years. I had to take a job at half my former salary, after lost benefits.
Still all of the responsibility plus more. I'd walk into a store at noon, and outdated salads were still in the counters for sale. The help was lousy, and the owners didn't care. All they told me was good help was hard to find. I got fed up after two years and left.
 
I wonder how they mix chlorine bleach and hydrogen peroxide and had an effective product because I thought I read that the dark color safe Cheer detergent used hydrogen peroxide to neutralize the chlorine in tap water to protect dark colors.
 
sorry for the confusion--they had both gallons of chlorine bleach (3 varieties--plain, floral and lemon, I think) and separately the H2O2 bleach in 1/2 gallon bottles. I imagine that dollar store bleach is probably not full-strength (bleach for disinfection must have a minimum of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite--none of the "scented" or "value-added" bleaches meet that standard, thus aren't EPA registered as disinfectants. To economize on shipping, the bottles are shrinking and the concentration is growing. I'm no particular fan of Clorox brand, but at least they stand behind their labels (though I haven't seen any mislabeled bargain brand bleach either)
 
America's Choice still available........................

AMERICA'S CHOICE was the house brand for A&P / Waldbaum's / Pathmark / Food Emporium / Super fresh / Food Basics stores until late in 2015 when A&P filed Chapter 13 and closed / sold over 300 stores in NY, NJ, CT, PA, DEL, and left a gaping hole in once were thriving grocery chains until the execs at A&P got their hands on them!

Christian Haub, is now the CEO of the low class "SAV-ALOT" grocery chain, which is usually a low end chain in low income neighborhoods. Dirty stores and limited assortment is this chains motto!!! He was the CEO of A&P before their free fall into the abyss and he recently acquired the rights to use the AMERICA'S CHOICE BRAND as SAV-ALOT'S privatelable product!
Mike
 
Mike,

I met Christian Haub and his then right hand man, Martin Shoemaker when they were here in town once.
It was about 1996. We still had 84 stores, and were opening still more.
The entire Haub family divested upon news of chapter 11. Germans don't do that. Debt is shulde, and is a sign of embarrassment and weakness. The Tangleman/Haub enterprise in Germany has been sold.
Christian was born in Washington state and had dual citizenship.
 
I'm guessing you worked for......

FARMER JACK!!! The absolute final nail in A&P's coffin was the purchase of the FORMER volume leader in NY and NJ, Pathmark Supermarkets!! Pathmark lost its appeal with shoppers to ShopRite and others, and had a HEAVY DEBT LOAD. A&P genius execs sold the company's profitable Canadian division to buy Pathmark. They converted many Philly area stores to the PM banner but without any success. They could not get out from the debt load they placed themselves under and eventually after the second bankruptcy they folded.
Stop&Shop, Acme Markets (Albertsons), Key Food, Best Markets, ShopRite, Foodtown and others acquired the stores with the most, 71, going to Acme. So that is the end of A&P.
Mike
 
Yes Mike,

I was with F.J. for 31 years. It was a great place to work back in the day.
Good money, benefits, paid vacations, plus other perks. Auto show tickets, ball game raffles, Christmas parties.
every five years of service, we were all treated to a nice supper club style awards dinner. A better gemstone pin each time. Borman's sold in 1988.
A&P continued the award pin program and gifts until about 2004.
The final nail in our coffin was crooked top management. My 18 stores mainly still had good inventories in 2006. Hourly employees took a dollar an hour cut with the promise of keeping their jobs.
The category buyers would order pallet upon pallet of whatever just because it was a deal. Then, starting in 2005, accounting loaded the bills for then into the 2006 fiscal period. Sort of like a lease pull ahead. Bad move. The New Orleans division accounting was being done here in Detroit until Katrina hit. I walked into the main office one Monday morning, and the entire first floor of cubicles were dark and empty. They were the first to be laid off.
Later that month, I attended a new hire training seminar lead by the short term president, Bahvdeep Singh. I asked him what was going on in Montvale, and if our division would survive. He offered no reply.
One day, he sent me an e-mail telling me to see that every store in my territory carried all varieties of Tofu. I replied, a few stores can sell it, but it is a low volume item in most. He then asked, what's the matter, you no like Tofu Mikee?
So with more Walmart stores opening up here, and the decline of the automotive suppliers, and sales, they decided Pathmark was a better bet. Most
likely just a scheme to set up for bankruptcy.
 
I remember Farmer Jack's...

...as a new brand sometime while I was living in Michigan. I think the stores were purchased from a different owner, maybe Wrigley or Food Fair, but I cannot recall the details.
 
Tom,

Food Fair and Sav-On were both Borman's inc. banners. In 1965, the FTC ruled they had to combine the names into one banner, because Sav-On had lower prices, and the FTC ruled they were a local monopoly. Hence the Farmer Jack banner.
I think it would have happened eventually anyway, because in store delicatessans were coming into their own, and were not a feature of low end stores. The stores with Deli's had much better margins.
The other Borman banners were Arnold's drug stores, Modern photo, Wesleys Quaker made ice cream, and Farm Maid dairy.
They even had a few department stores called Yankee.
In the 80's, we even had some gourmet cafe's in some stores. Yvonne Gill, a former Birmingham restaurantuer of "Twinnings" leased the space in the stores from Borman's.
 

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