Waldbaum's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Waldbaum's is a supermarket chain in New York, especially dominant on Long Island and the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. It started in 1904 as a shop run by Joseph Waldbaum in Brooklyn, and in the late 70's, expanded out of its New York/Long Island home turf and into Southern New England. The New England stores were named Waldbaums Foodmart and the company at one point grew to more than 160 stores. It was acquired by The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) in 1986, which over the years mismanaged and invested little in the stores, resulting in the closing of scores of the Foodmart stores in the New England division. A&P then converted the remaining Waldbaums Foodmart outlets into A&P Super FoodMarts (A&P's other New England Division). The diminished Waldbaums chain currently exists only in certain boroughs of New York City and Long Island, where it is still market leader, along with King Kullen. Waldbaums currently operates 72 stores.Out of the 72 stores 63 have Bakeries, and 36 have pharmacies in them.
Some believe that it is a subsidiary of the retail giant Wal-Mart due to the name, but there is no connection (in fact, ironically, its market was the last major metro area in the US to open any Wal-Mart stores). Also, unlike the Wal-Mart stores, Waldbaum's keeps all kinds of groceries, fresh fruits and vegetables. Like other members of the A&P chain, it offers house brand products under the America's Choice, Master Choice, and Health Pride names.
On December 13, 2005, Waldbaum's began offering online shopping [1]; along with The Food Emporium, it is currently one of only two members of the A&P family to do so.
