The company was founded on February 17, 1859 in New York City, New York, by George Francis Gilman (16 – March 3, 1901) as Gilman & Company (1859–1869). The company, known everywhere as A&P, began as a mail-order business located at 31 Vesey Street in downtown Manhattan. In the same year, Gilman & Company entered the tea and coffee business from that storefront.
The company purchased coffee and tea from clipper ships on the waterfront docks of New York City. By eliminating brokers, it was able to sell their wares at "cargo prices." The enterprise was so successful that in early 1863 the firm became a retailer under the name, Great American Tea Company.
This chain is said to have had 25 stores by 1865 and 100 by 1880, and other chains also emerged during the period.
In 1869 the company became the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, to commemorate the joining of the first transcontinental railroad and to separate its retail stores from its mail-order operations. By 1881 its stores extended as far west as St. Paul, Minnesota, and as far south as Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia.
In 1882 Eight O’Clock Breakfast Coffee was introduced; the Eight O’Clock blend remained a hallmark house brand into the early 21st century.
In 1900 the company, which had nearly 200 stores, was incorporated on May 29, 1925. In 1925, A&P operated more than thirteen thousand grocery stores nationwide, with more than forty thousand employees.
In 1927, A&P established a Canadian division; by 1929 it operated 200 stores in Ontario and Quebec. In 1930, the corporation's 16,000 stores reached $2.9 billion in sales, resulting in a 25% grocery-store share in its operating areas, and about 10% nationwide.
In 1973, as A&P reported $51 million in losses and Safeway took its place as the largest food retailer in the country.
In 2015, A&P filed for a second Chapter 11 bankruptcy. All of its supermarkets were sold or closed by December 1, 2015.
Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
