Waldbaum's was a
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
chain with stores in the
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
boroughs of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
,
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
, and the
Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
; and in
Nassau,
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
counties and Upstate New York. The chain also for a time operated stores in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, and
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. Founded in 1904, Waldbaum's was one of seven "banner store chains" 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 ...
(A&P), which acquired the chain from its founding family in 1986.
Waldbaum's operated full-service traditional supermarkets with varying footprints and store models and its popular marquee in certain aisles along with good food and reliable service. At its peak in the 1980s, it was the 12th largest supermarket chain in the United States and had 140 stores throughout the New York metropolitan area.
All Waldbaum's stores featured fresh meats and produce. 62 stores had bakeries and 36 offered pharmacy service. As with other A&P-branded stores, Waldbaum's offered in-house products under the America's Choice, America's Choice Kids, America's Choice Gold, Two-Forks Bakery, Green Way, Via Roma, Food Basics, Home Basics, Great Atlantic Seafood Market, Mid-Atlantic Country Farms, Woodson & James, Hartford Reserve, Food Emporium Trading Co., Preferred Pet and Live Better brands.
History
Ownership under the Waldbaum family
In 1904, two brothers, Sam and Wolf Waldbaum, Jewish immigrants from the Galician region of Ukraine, opened a store in Brooklyn. Their nephew, Israel "Izzy" Waldbaum, came to America and joined the business. The three men ran the store, with Izzy taking over the grocery when his uncles retired. Izzy married Julia Leffel; they had three children.
The company made history in 1938, when
identical twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...
black brothers, Ernest and George Brown, who started working at one of the only two existing stores at the time as stockboys were promoted to checkout boys. "It was unheard of then for a colored checker to be in a white neighborhood," Ernest Brown said three decades later in an interview. Both Browns later became store managers and, eventually, Waldbaum executives (vice-president and assistant vice-president, respectively).
When Izzy died in 1948, his son Ira Waldbaum left his studies at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
and took over the company's six stores in Brooklyn.
Izzy's wife
Julia Waldbaum played an active part in the company and served as its secretary. From the 1960s onward, her picture and her recipes appeared on almost all of the company's 400 private-label products.
By 1951, the company had opened its first supermarket in
Flushing, Queens
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial ...
and net sales reached $55.2 million by 1960. In 1961, the company went public by selling shares of common stock, though the Waldbaum's family still owned a majority of the shares.
By this time, Waldbaum's had 25 stores and sales of $80 million. In 1970, the company bought the Food Mart chain in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
On August 2, 1978,
a fire was reported at the store in
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...
, which was undergoing renovations at the time. The roof collapsed as firefighters were attempting to
vent
Vent or vents may refer to:
Science and technology Biology
*Vent, the cloaca region of an animal
*Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase
Geology
*Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water ...
the building, killing six firefighters and injuring over 30.
Investigators arrested 21-year old neighborhood man named Eric Jackson, who was charged with arson and six counts of murder. He was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years to life in state prison. However, later evidence showed that the fire had been caused by an electrical failure and that the prosecution had both withheld information from the defense team and manufactured evidence against Jackson. In 1988, a new trial was ordered and in 1994 the jury returned an acquittal.
In March 1979, a Waldbaum's store in the
East Flatbush
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the Lon ...
neighborhood of Brooklyn was the site of an armed robbery. The three gunmen held 40 shoppers in the store for three and a half hours before surrendering to the police.
In 1984, Waldbaum's pleaded no contest to price fixing charges after the company was accused of conspiring with
Pathmark and
King Kullen chains on joint
''double-couponing
'' promotions. Waldbaum's paid a fine of $700,000.
After years of in-house advertising, the company hired the
D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles ad agency with a $5 million budget in 1988.
Purchase by A&P
In November 1986, Waldbaum's sold controlling interest in the company to The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. Following the sale, the Waldbaum family continued to manage the stores.
Waldbaum's introduced a shop-at-home service in 1989, where customers can call in their order and get it delivered. In January 1996, 14 people were injured when the roof of the
Massapequa, New York
Massapequa (, ) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in Ne ...
Waldbaum's collapsed under the weight of snow during the historic
blizzard of 1996
The North American blizzard of 1996 was a severe nor'easter that paralyzed the United States East Coast with up to of wind-driven snow from January 6 to January 8, 1996. The City University of New York reported that the storm "dropped 20 inches ...
.
Following the purchase of Pathmark in 2007, A&P was required to sell five Waldbaum's locations in Staten Island and Long Island to satisfy regulators over antitrust concerns.
In August 2010, A&P announced that it would close 25 stores as the parent of Waldbaum's began the implementation and execution phase of its comprehensive turnaround. In September, A&P announced it planned to lay off over 400 workers, including 195 employees from the closure of the
West Hartford
West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census.
The town's popular downtown area is colloquiall ...
Waldbaum's store in Connecticut. The stores in Centereach and Levittown closed in October.
In December 2010, A&P filed for bankruptcy. In order to help turn around the business, A&P identified 32 locations for closure, including Waldbaum's stores in Farmingdale, Smithtown, and Valley Stream.
In January 2012, A&P announced six more stores would close in Commack, West Babylon, East Islip, Lake Ronkonkoma, Huntington Station and Rockville Centre. Waldbaum's parent company emerged from
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
bankruptcy protection as a private company in March 2012.

On July 20, 2015, A&P filed for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following years of financial loss and a struggle to compete with rival grocery chains. Three Waldbaum's stores in Carle Place, Riverhead, and Oceanside were set to close.
The company announced its intention to immediately sell 120 stores.
Stop & Shop
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is an American 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 a 365-store chain ...
bought Waldbaum's locations in Bedford, East Hampton, Southampton, Baldwin, Massapequa, Long Beach, Huntington, Howard Beach, Belle Harbor, and Bay Terrace.
Key Food bought stores in Moriches, Mattituck, Albertson, Flushing, Glen Head, Rosebankoo Brooklyn, Jackson Heights, Glen Oaks, and Bayside. Five store locations were sold to
Best Yet Market in November 2015, and three locations to
Wakefern Food Corporation
Wakefern Food Corporation is an American company that was founded in 1946 and is based in Keasbey, New Jersey. It is the largest retailers' cooperative group of supermarkets and the fourth-largest cooperative of any kind in the United States. ...
, owner of the
ShopRite Food chain, with several other entities acquiring additional locations.
All Waldbaum's stores were sold or closed by November 2015.
In December 2018, private equity firm American Legacy Brands purchased the intellectual property rights for A&P and Waldbaum's with the intention of licensing the names for private label lines.
See also
*
Joseph Waldbaum
References
External links
A&P corporate website
{{Authority control
Companies based in Bergen County, New Jersey
Defunct supermarkets of the United States
American companies established in 1904
Retail companies established in 1904
Retail companies disestablished in 2015
Supermarkets of the United States
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
1904 establishments in New York City
2015 disestablishments in New York (state)
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015