The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-10-04
A. & ?. IS Is
YEARS OLD
Oldest Living Employee
.~ Tells Of Early -
Food Stores,

NEW YORK, Oct. A. The
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea
company is celebrating its 18th
anniversary this week. This COM
pany started in 1859 as a single
store on Vesey street, New York.
Now its anniversary sale is being
celebrated by 10000 employees in
$4,000 stores serving 100000
customers day.
J. T. Patten, the oldest living
member of the organization, gave
reporters an eyewitness account
of the company's growth.
"My first job with APP was in
May 1876" said Mr.. Patten.
"The company was then 16 years
old and had only ~ stores, but
large mail order business.
81 remember we'll the first
store | worked in. We sold only
tea and coffee. Blending was
done locally-if customer found
a blend too weak or too strong,
she brought it back and the
blend was changed to suit her
taste.
"That early store would prob
ably be considered rather ornate
today. On the walls were great
oil paintings of Chinese scenes. A
gallery ran around the store half
way between floor and ceiling.
From this gallery hung a multi
tude of bird cages with canaries,
cockatoos and parrots; and to
complete the picture there was a
large fountain in the center of
the store in which goldfish swan.
In the center of the ceiling hung
giant chandelier with many
white, gas-illuminated globes on
it. Glass prisms hung from under
each light. These were always
carefully taken off in the early
summer and the whole was COW
cred: with mosquito netting. The
prisms were always washed; pol
ished and replaced in the fall.
In the windows there were a
great many illuminated gas globes
| in arched rows. .''"c "":.
ga year later | was moved to
53rd street on 9Th avenue. In
! 1876, this. was the farthest north
the company had reached and
just about as far north as New
York city had reached, for north
of ,59th street there were only
shanties through, which ran the
Boulevard, now renamed Broad
way. In this store we sold tea.
coffee and sugar under the smil-
ing sun of a Chinese scene paint
ed on the walls over the tea bins
To this 53rd street store, many
farmers used to come from the
country that lay north of 59th
street TO do their ordering for
several, weeks" r.:,' "
When asked about the famous
blizzard of '88, Mr.. Patten told
how, he walked for miles to open
his store, an hour and hall
late. The sales that \day were
S2.86, and it was three nights
before he was able to go home
81 have lived in the greatest
IS wears of; the worlds history, y
continued Mr.. Patten.. "Never be-
fore in history has there been q
period of such constant and raplo
change. Light, heat, power, trans
portation. communication, enter
ltainment, medicine - everything
from. the maternity ward to the
Hndertaker's parlor has either
!, come into being or been drastic
ally changed during those u
years. This is not true of any
other IS years in history. Fol
thousands of years people hvet
pretty much as their fathers hV
ed. The American colonists uset
the same crude greese lamps ant
the same tallow candles that TIT
ancient Egyptians used. No ms
, jor improvement had been made
in artificial illumination for lO,
900 years. Then came the de
Vel0pment Of kerosene and gas
then electricity. And all this il
the last three quarters of a cen
fury. ; ....
"These changes, of course, at
fected every phase of life ant
every activity in America. 1 saw
them from a grocery counter
and saw their effect on food re