Groceteria.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi73ptWt3Qc

I recently stumbled across this Youtube video from the late 70s which shows Elvis Costello and his band stopping at an A&P store. I thought this was good quality considering the time period and offered a view of what a typical 1970s store was like.

A couple things worth noting:

The exterior not only shows the A&P but also a Venture store next door.

Most of the video is on the interior of the store. Several shots show the walls etc. clearly.

At the end as they go through the checkout line, there are A&P employees in uniform, and the registers are non-scanning NCR 255s. If you listen closely you can hear the cash register printer noises, and there is a close shot of the register's display.

I thought I would share this one mainly due to the historical aspects present in the video.

That was pretty amazing. Thanks!

I don't fully understand why Geraldo Rivera was there. But then again, I never do.

(Yes, I know it was for 20/20...)

Chicago--perhaps Matteson or other south suburb, I'd guess. Store dated from 1974 or so when Venture came into Chicago from St. Louis--they didn't partner in St. Louis with A&P (worked with Schnucks to put in Venture Foods) but this was A&P's last gasp for some real estate in Chicago suburban areas (Jewel and Dominicks had already outgrown being next to discount stores; National being the local "multi-region" chain had more sophisticated sites/real estate personnel in Chicago).

Chicago--perhaps Matteson or other south suburb, I'd guess. Store dated from 1974 or so when Venture came into Chicago from St. Louis--they didn't partner in St. Louis with A&P (worked with Schnucks to put in Venture Foods) but this was A&P's last gasp for some real estate in Chicago suburban areas (Jewel and Dominicks had already outgrown being next to discount stores; National being the local "multi-region" chain had more sophisticated sites/real estate personnel in Chicago). Definitely not St. Louis (Dean's Dairy was Chicago, not St. Louis)

Love Elvis, love the store.

One thing that struck me about the video was how long and slow the checkout line seemed. The register had no scanning and no conveyor belt, and didn't seem geared for high volumes. Granted they checked out by the customer service desk, which may have been the only register like this, and the other checkout stands aren't clearly visible in the footage. Even so, I would have expected more efficiencies for a big chain by 1978.

they clearly went through the express lane which in those days was almost always collocated with the office...seemed more like a retinue/cast of thousands than the normal for a suburban grocery store

I really wish I knew where this A&P/Venture was. A lot of empty Venture stores were replaced by Kmart. If this one was, I am really curious as to how much remodeling Kmart would have done. Kmart moved into newer former Venture stores such as the ones in Houston without changing much at all, but this being an older Venture, I would have to guess Kmart would have needed to give it a pretty major makeover.

Also, I saw a picture online years ago of an A&P-Bradlees combination store from the 70's. It was very similar to this A&P-Venture combo. Unfortunately I have no idea where it was. It was such a strange combo to see because Stop & Shop was usually the supermarket partner of Bradlees (this was because Stop & Shop owned Bradlees for over 30 years).