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| Photo courtesy of Herald Community Newspapers |
Today at A&P Preservation we're taking a look at
the abandoned Waldbaum's in East Meadow, New York. For those
who are unfamiliar with Long Island, East Meadow is not too
far in. It's not nearly as insane as stores in Riverhead, which are all the way in
the Island! I have to head out to Long Island every once in
awhile for family matters. Traffic is insane! Quit
complaining... let's start the tour!
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| Photos courtesy of geekyTV |
Today's tour comes from our contributor geekyTV. He
shopped at this store for the longest time until closing.
This store opened in the late 90's as a "fresh build" as we
like to call it here at A&P Preservation. The store
opened, and closed, with the 90's
Foodmarket decor that we've been extensively covering on
the blog lately. This version of the Foodmarket decor
includes the Waldbaum's leaf!
One thing that I've never gotten over about in the
90's Centennials is the fact that the produce department is
so cavernous, but as soon as you hit meat and seafood, the
ceiling is almost touchable! It's honestly ridiculous. Note
the "Club Pack" signage. This was A&P's move to combat
the Warehouse Store chains, such as BJ's and Costco.
However, I highly doubt that Club Packs lasted until the day
geekyTV took these photos!
Shelves are starting to empty out! This location was
very similar to the Claymont
Superfresh we toured a few weeks ago.
A look towards the front-end. This store had an odd
layout! The pharmacy was NOT along the front of the
store next to Customer Services. Instead, it was given its
own little cubicle to work from. This is similar to many ShopRite locations owned by the
Colalillo family, ironically my location Greenwich
ShopRite.
geekyTV states that this was the former Bank of
America. He says its been closed for years! Not much use of
that cubicle, huh? This is why banks were phased out in most
supermarkets built later, not just by A&P, but literally
any company. It's an unpredictable business. Often times
these banks move to their own standalone location in the
parking lot.
Weird stack of shopping carts in the middle of the
store here. While we saw that Claymont was in terrible
disrepair, I'll admit, this location looks a lot cleaner and
well-maintained! Good job, everyone! Sadly, this store is
still vacant today.
Instead of "Food Market" trapping the icon in the
signage here, the Waldbaum's version of the Foodmarket decor
has their slogan at the time-- "If it's good for you, it's
good for Waldbaum's". You can see photos of this slogan here.
Ah, yes! Waldbaum's monitors in all their glory! Thank
you geekyTV for showing us this! Notice the classic 90's
registers in the background...
....as well as the U-Scans! These have been in place
since day 1. Even in, what I'd call, a Waldbaum's green!
On a side note, it seems that the Operating System is having
some critical issues.
A "creepy look" inside one of the bathrooms. For sure
a first at A&P Preservation! geekyTV wrote that "It is
as creepy as it looks." No lighting!
Nice Waldbaum's signage along the front.
This store, like most of the Waldbaum's locations on Long
Island, are vacant. The store has been deteriorating for
years now... lettering on the building has fallen down, and
access to the parking lot has been blocked off.
