The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America

The rise of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company is a riveting business story, but it turns out the tale of its decline is equally mesmerizing. Levinson (The Box) brings the rise and fall of the A&P to life in spellbinding prose, tracing its growth from its modest beginnings in the late 19th century as a New York City%E2%80%93based tea company to a small grocery store chain and eventually, in the 1940s, the largest retailer in the world. Formed by George Huntington Hartford and led later by his sons, George and John Hartford, two equally fascinating but very different brothers, the company continually embraced the concept of "creative destruction," innovating, reinventing, and rebranding itself, redefining how Americans shopped for food and ate for more than a century. While the Hartfords were committed to providing value to the consumer through low cost goods, the explosive growth of this business threatened the Mom and Pop small business culture in America; over the course of several decades, these small town grocers fought back against the original "big box" store, eventually taking the Hartford brothers and the giant retailer to federal court, pressing criminal charges for undercutting merchants who lacked their purchasing power. Set against the backdrop of America's rapidly changing business environment over the past century, Levinson skillfully weaves multiple narratives into a fascinating tale that provides a wealth of lessons for any reader interested in American history, economics, politics, or family business dynamics. (Sept.)