Sunday, September 13, 2015

A big deal at this Main Street Oshkosh location 52 years ago


909 North Main St.

New National Food Store Grand Opening Is Tuesday.  (Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, August 26, 1963)

Sounds as though it was taken straight from company news release.
The new supermarket, at 909 N. Main St., is a completely air-conditioned, ultra-modern structure, with a 200-car, free parking lot.  It includes a complete line of groceries with health and beauty aids, hardware and gadgets, cookies, beverages, soups, an Italian food section, magazines, a candy department, frozen foods, cheese, a very large fresh produce department and a meat department featuring everyk-day low National prices.

15 years earlier, an even bigger deal occurred in Oshkosh grocery world.

Preview tonight of new A&P store opening tomorrow.  (Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, July 27, 1948)
More than 500 Oshkosh civic leaders and merchants have been invited to participate in the dedication this evening at 7 o'clock of a streamlined supermarket described as the "Store of Tomorrow".  The program tonight will be a special preview of the new A&P store at 361 Main Street, the opening of which has been scheduled for 9 o'clock Wednesday morning.

Among the amenities:
  • 10,000 square feet (compared to about 70,000 at current Festival Foods location)
  • 'consumer-packaged', self-service meat department
  • dairy section
  • 'novel candy section with illuminated showcase of blonde walnut'
  • large frozen foods and delicatessen counter
  • 40 feet of counters for refrigerated produce
  • 22 feet devoted to frozen foods
  • 7 checkout spaces

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