Food Basics was a
no-frills discount supermarket chain owned and operated by
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain store, chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until ...
in the northeastern United States.
Food Basics carried major national brands, as well as A&P's portfolio of private labels, including ''America's Choice'', A&P's flagship private label, ''Food Basics'' and ''Home Basics'', ''Live Better'', and ''Green Way''. The stores also included brands usually not carried by other A&P family stores.
Food Basics, like the rest of A&P’s operations, was liquidated and closed in 2015. The name and trademark was purchased by
Allegiance Retail Services, which also purchased the name and trademark for Food Basics’ former corporate sibling
Pathmark
Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019.
From 1 ...
.
History
Canadian origins
The
Food Basics
Food Basics Ltd. is a Canadian supermarket chain owned by Metro Inc. The company operates over 130 stores throughout Ontario.
History
Food Basics was created by A&P Canada to compete with the successful No Frills warehouse-style supermarket op ...
concept began in 1995, in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, where it was launched by
A&P's Canadian subsidiary. As of 2009, the two chains were no longer connected, as the Canadian Food Basics stores are now owned and operated by
Metro Inc.
Metro Inc. is a Canadian food retailer operating in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The company is based in Montreal, Quebec with head office at 11011 Boulevard Maurice-Duplessis. Metro is the third largest grocer in Canada, after Loblaw ...
, which purchased A&P's Canadian stores.
Bringing Food Basics to America
In 2001, A&P brought the Food Basics concept to the U.S., reopening its closed A&P supermarket in
Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...
, as its first Food Basics in the US. A&P was pleased with the results and within several months of opening the Passaic store, A&P decided to expand the Food Basics banner into nearby Paterson, and renovated an A&P store there.
A part of A&P's history
Some of the new Food Basics stores had been part of the A&P family for decades, including the Paterson store mentioned above,
with A&P's former Atlantic Regional headquarters nearby; in fact, before a separate building was constructed in the 1970s, A&P operated its store inside the headquarters building.
Other Food Basics stores, such as the
Wallington, New Jersey
Wallington is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,335,[Stop & Shop
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide.
Sto ...]
's New York Metro division in 1982.
The shopping bag policy
From its beginning, American Food Basics stores followed the same business plan as the Canadian stores; no in-store bakery or deli, some locations had no in-store butcher and customers were not given free plastic bags. In the latter case, customers were encouraged to bring their own bags, with a small discount for each bag used, or use cardboard boxes provided for free. A sturdier plastic bag than a typical supermarket shopping bag was available to customers for a small fee.
In the US, this was not a popular policy. Food Basics eventually stopped charging for shopping bags and started using the typical cheaply made plastic bags used by its competitors and its fellow A&P banner stores.
In its early years, all of Food Basics' stores in the United States had been small former A&Ps. In the mid-2000s, A&P expanded the Food Basics concept to larger stores, including a former A&P Food Market in
North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...
, a former
Super Fresh Super Store in
Northeast Philadelphia
Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of between 300,000 and 450,000, depending ...
, a
Pathmark Super Center in the
Eastside section of Paterson (the city's second Food Basics store), and an A&P Super Foodmart in
Bridgeport, CT
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock ...
.
In nearly all cases, the converted Food Basics stores were able to retain elements of the A&Ps they took over. The North Bergen and Paterson Eastside stores kept the pharmacy departments that their old stores had and were the only Food Basics to offer pharmacies. Five Food Basics kept the old stores' liquor licenses, with a sixth store selling only beer.
In 2006, A&P made changes to the Food Basics model, opening a prototype store in
Glassboro, New Jersey
Glassboro is a borough in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 18,579,[Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...]
, and one in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
When A&P opted for liquidation in 2015, nine of the ten remaining Food Basics locations were sold to other operators.
Key Food
Key Food Stores Co-op, Inc. is a cooperative of independently owned supermarkets, founded in Brooklyn, New York, on April 20, 1937. Its stores are found in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The headqu ...
purchased several of these stores and rebranded the Paterson and Glen Rock, New Jersey stores under the
Super Fresh
SuperFresh is a supermarket brand owned by Key Food Stores which operates in New York City and its New Jersey suburbs. The company currently operates twenty supermarkets.
The name previously belonged to a chain of stores run by A&P, based larg ...
banner, which was the name of A&P’s Philadelphia-area chain and which Key Food acquired in the bankruptcy auction for the company’s intellectual properties. The Passaic and Eastside Paterson stores were rebranded Gala Fresh, another Key Food brand concept, but neither store operates under this brand; the Eastside Paterson store rebranded as another Key Food marque, Food Universe, while the Passaic store was closed and subdivided; half of the store is now occupied by
Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada. Its st ...
and the other is home to that store’s sibling chain of variety stores,
Family Dollar
Family Dollar Stores, Inc. is an American variety store chain. With over 8,000 locations in all states except Alaska and Hawaii, it was the second largest retailer of its type in the United States until it was acquired by Dollar Tree in 2015 and i ...
.
References
{{Supermarkets of the United States
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
American companies established in 2001
Retail companies established in 2001
Retail companies disestablished in 2015
Defunct supermarkets of the United States
Supermarkets of the United States
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015