LOCAL HISTORY: Ypsilanti's first supermarket

In 1940s Ypsilanti, ration books were used to mete out food. Fuel was in short supply. City scrap rubber drives were in full swing and it was difficult, if not impossible, to get new tires for your car. People drove less and tried to conserve their car until better times. Although many of the small grocers delivered to your door, the delivery system was better suited to stay-at-home moms, not households in which the husband was serving overseas and the wife was out doing war work. For wartime motorists shopping after work, the city’s longtime system of scattered separate meat markets, poultry markets and small grocers was becoming difficult and costly to navigate.

The July 9, 1942, Ypsilanti Daily Press reported, “A $75,000 streamlined food department store, representing A & P Tea Company’s latest contribution to war-forced ‘one-stop shopping,’ where complete food requirements are obtainable under one roof, was opened here today at Michigan Ave. and Grove St.” Four A & Ps already existed in Ypsilanti. These were small “economy” stores not much bigger than the existing traditional grocers. The Michigan and Grove store was new, and new on a nationwide scale.

The paper continued, “In announcing the store opening, James A. O’Donnell, vice president in charge of the company’s Detroit unit, said the new red and buff colored brick structure is the ‘most modern food establishment in the country which features more and larger “stores within stores” than any other retail outlet’.”

“The store replaced A & P’s first super market in its Detroit unit, which was opened three blocks west at 23 Michigan Ave. in February, 1937.” This was one of the four small “economy” stores. The use of the word “super” is debatable, since the parking lot had spaces for only 14 cars.

The new store’s lot boasted an 80-car parking lot and the novelty of fluorescent lighting. Six checkout lanes served customers.

In comparison to the old store, the new one had “30 feet of meat and fish cases, 20 feet more than the other store; 36 feet of dairy boxes and cases, while the old store had only a 10-foot-long wall box. . . and a 65-foot tile-covered fruit and produce rack equipped with the latest slanting back-mirror.” In addition, the chain’s economies of scale allowed it to underprice local grocers, another appealing factor for rationed wartime budgets. A & P executives from Detroit, New York, and Chicago attended the grand opening. As a first step towards Washtenaw County’s modern big-box food stores, Ypsilanti’s sparkling new A & P offered an appealing way to save scant wartime money and transportation resources.

For a different perspective on Ypsilanti grocers, check out "The Sadness in a Depression-Era Grocery Receipt."

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