I left J. G. McCrory out of my list of dime stores the other day. It seems that a bunch of guys (Kresge, Murphy and Newberry) got their starts working at McCrory stores.
Speaking of retail, I heard on NPR this morning that The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, has filed for Chapter 11. Not going under, just looking to fix themselves up.
A&P was never my favorite. My mother preferred Jewel, possibly because her father once worked for the Jewel Tea Company, so I did too. I don't know what Grampie did for them. Maybe he was a Jewel Tea Man. I remember the Jewel Tea Man coming to our house in his brown truck when I was quite young. Actually, I think the National Tea Man did too. After a while they gave that up and just opened stores.
It’s interesting that most grocery store chains are local or regional, although many of them are subsidiaries of others – Kroger owns a bunch with different names.
How about this bit of oddball trivia: Winn-Dixie, which is the iconic grocery store in the deep south, was founded in Idaho.
When I was a small child, I decided that Piggly Wiggly was the stupidest imaginable name for a grocery store. I still think so.
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