Sav-A-Center

.)

By August 2005, the chain operated primarily in the Baton Rouge and the New Orleans metro areas and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Many stores sustained some level of damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Twenty-one stores reopened within a few months of the storm and two others following necessary remodeling to repair flood damage. Five stores were closed permanently due to severe damage to the stores and the markets they served . In April, 2007, the chain exited the Baton Rouge market, closing its locations there. On May 30, 2007, A&P confirmed that it was 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. It was announced in September that the remaining operations in the region would be sold to the locally owned Rouses chain, a total of 20 stores. Rouses will continue to operate 16 of the stores, 14 in metro New Orleans and two in Mississippi, sell one to another local chain, Breaux Mart, and close three others.

Former Sav-A-Center Locations

#4 and #10 in Baton Rouge (closed 2007, previous locations, once branded as SuperFresh, closed earlier)
#42, #47, #81, #82, #83 on the North Shore of metro New Orleans in Slidell, Mandeville, and Covington, LA- (purchased by Rouses, two locations to be closed)
#107 and #128 in Ocean Springs and Gulfport, Mississippi (purchased by Rouses)
#56 on Clearview (purchased by Rouses)
#60 on Veterans Highway (purchased by Rouses)
#68 on West Esplanade (purchased by Rouses)
#74 on Terry Parkway (operated as A&P; closed after purchase by Rouses)
#84 Belle Chase Highway (purchased by Rouses)
#85 Belle Chase Highway (purchased by Rouses)
#211 on Power Boulevard (former Schwegmann location, purchased A&P then by Rouses)
#62 on General DeGaulle (purchased by Rouses)
#71 on Royal Street ("corner grocery" in French Quarter operated as A&P)
#69 on Magazine St. (operated as an A&P; purchased by Breaux Mart)
#216 on Franklin at the lake front (former Schwegmann location, purchased by A&P, now Rouses)
#231 on Tchoupitoulas (former Real Superstore location then Schwegmann location, purchased by A&P, now Rouses)

Reopened after extensive remodeling following Hurricane Katrina:
#75 on Carrolton Avenue (reopened March 06, purchased by Rouses)
#76 on Airline Highway (on site of former Schwegmann location, reopened March 06, purchased by Rouses)

Closed after Katrina:
#55 in Meraux, LA
#58 in Chalmette, LA
#110 in Waveland, MS
#112 in Long Beach, MS
#215 on Bullard Ave in New Orleans

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 mid-to-late 90's as A&P Food Market. In the case of A&P's Southeastern and Carolina Divisions, they were sold in 1998, and in the case of some of the smaller New York metro area stores that hadn't closed, they were rebranded beginning in 2001 as Food Basics.

Former A&P Sav-A-Center 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. Became A&P Food Market before closing in 1999, store divided after neighboring Bradlees closed. Kohl's, Famous Footwear, and a discount store occupies the 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 1980s. 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. Building vacant after last tenant, Rag Shop, went out of business.
*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, New Jersey: Now a CVS
*Ortley Beach, New Jersey: Built on the site of former Acme Markets store and half of original A&P. Store still sports a kelly green motif. Remaining half of original store is a liquor store.
*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. (Saddle Brook also had a Stop & Shop paired with a Bradlees in a shopping center, but A&P chose not to move from their then-current location and the building instead became a Super Foodtown; that store closed in the mid 1990s.)
*Staten Island, New York: Changed to a Waldbaum's then became a Kam Man Food for less than a year. Currently a Western Beef supermarket.
*Wallington, New Jersey: Originally Stop & Shop, 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 Fresh 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 1960s. The location later became a Sav-A-Center in 1990 and was closed in 1997 after a new store was built next to it. The 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 Save-A-Centre

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

PathMark Sav-A-Center

A&P is once again reviving the Sav-A-Center name, this time on newly remodeled Pathmark locations in Irvington, New Jersey, Edison, New Jersey, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania and 3 locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The three locations are:

* 4160 Monument Avenue
* 840 Cottman Avenue
* 2101-41 Cottman avenue (Former Superfresh) [http://www.progressivegrocer.com/progressivegrocer/content_display/features/fresh-foods/e3ie29ff31c80c6e3df21e81d9f1d830826?imw=Y]

* [http://www.savacenter.com Sav-A-Center Website No longer active]
* [http://www.rouses.com Rouses Website]