At last - the snow is all but melted, save for a few somewhat dingy looking piles here and there.Oh, I don’t mean today, when half the country has been covered with record snows. That could go on for weeks yet! I’m referring to the scene above, a 1967 snapshot photo (thanks to Mark) of the A&P supermarket in tiny Millerton, New York. Millerton is some 60 miles northwest of Hartford, very close to the point where New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts intersect. They definitely see their share of snow – over five feet a year on average.
The store pictured is an excellent example of a “Retrofit Centennial” – where A&P would take an existing store (usually featuring the traditional round A&P logo, bracketed by tapered rays or the phrase “Super Market”) and construct a new upper facade of siding, a bit of ornamental fencing and its distinctive colonial-style lettering, providing even their humblest stores with a more upscale appearance. Perhaps they lacked the dramatic impact of the company’s new-from-the-ground-up Centennial units, but no doubt most communities considered the new look a major improvement. Throughout the heyday of the 1960’s, A&P rolled out these upgrades on hundreds of stores.
Endeavoring to finish up these A&P posts before the snow finally does melt…
