A&P Looks To Cater To Local Tastes

A&P’s parent company has decided that one key ingredient in its recipe for a post-bankruptcy turnaround is lots of local flavor.

Montvale-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. formally emerged from bankruptcy March 13 and as a newly private corporation is keeping quiet, for the time being, about its turnaround strategy. But recent remodels of Pathmark stores in North Jersey show that one concept A&P is banking on is the “store of the neighborhood” — locations that reflect the culture and tastes of the customers who live nearby.

The company last weekend held a reopening celebration for a Weehawken Pathmark that was remodeled to make room for more fresh produce and for meat, seafood and bakery items favored by the store’s predominantly Hispanic customers.

Another Pathmark, in Bergenfield, was remodeled to add kosher meat, seafood and deli departments, and more kosher packaged goods, to serve Orthodox customers in Bergenfield and Teaneck, two Bergen County towns with the highest concentrations of Orthodox Jews.

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