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Waldbaum's
Waldbaum's was a supermarket chain with stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx; and in Nassau, Suffolk counties and Upstate New York. The chain also for a time operated stores in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Founded in 1904, Waldbaum's was one of seven "banner store chains" owned and operated by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (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.
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 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 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 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, which was undergoing renovations at the time. The roof collapsed as firefighters were attempting to vent 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 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.
Waldbaum's
Waldbaum's was a supermarket chain with stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx; and in Nassau, Suffolk counties and Upstate New York. The chain also for a time operated stores in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Founded in 1904, Waldbaum's was one of seven "banner store chains" owned and operated by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (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.
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 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 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 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, which was undergoing renovations at the time. The roof collapsed as firefighters were attempting to vent 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 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.