161/2"x113/4' sterling tray commemerating Appreciation for more than 25 years of loyal service to A.T. Onsager The Grand Union Company 1954.
L.P. Shield and other signatures engraved.
Grand Union started in Scranton, Pennsylvania as the Jones Brothers Tea Company in 1872. By the 1930s it was one of the largest grocery chains in the United States.[2] The name "Grand Union" was inspired by the desire to "unite shoppers with low prices in a 'Grand Union of Value'" as described by company associate Elvin Sanders. The store's mascot was Abraham Lincoln wearing a deli apron, and most stores featured a costumed Lincoln to accomplish deeds, talk to customers, and proclaim the general splendor of the Grand Union, and to urge them to "Save the Union" when the company faced economic hardship.
When Lansing P. Shield took over as Grand Union president in the early 1940s, he embraced the supermarket format and plunged the company forward into a new era of food marketing. Grand Union was one of the first companies to utilize the format.
Shield helped evolve the supermarket concept by demanding that the spacious supermarkets be designed carefully so as not to overwhelm customers used to smaller shops. Shield suggested breaking down the open spaces by building more walls and dispersing special product displays throughout the aisles
In 1951, Grand Union moved to a new supermarket/headquarters combo building in East Paterson, New Jersey. That town later adopted the Elmwood Park name in the early 1970s. Although it would move its headquarters again in 1987, this time to the Willowbrook Center building in Wayne across the street from Willowbrook Mall, the Elmwood Park store would remain in business until its 2001 closure.[3]
Starting in 1960, the company also operated "Grand Way" stores which were similar to today's super-centers as they combined a discount department store with a grocery store all under one roof. The grocery stores were later separated from the discount stores and sold to Winn-Dixie/Kwik-Chek.
