A & P Food Stores

*1775 W Beaver *

Founded in New York City by George Gilman in 1859, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, originally named Gilman & Company, was rebranded as A&P in 1869. By 1930, A&P had grown into the world’s largest retailer, generating $2.9 billion in annual sales and operating more than 16,000 stores. Until 1965, it held the distinction of being the largest retailer in the United States, with a cultural presence as iconic in its era as Walmart, McDonald’s, or Google are today.

A&P’s Southeastern headquarters was located in Jacksonville, Florida, where its regional operations included an industrial-scale bakery, a produce packing facility, and a coffee roasting plant for its well-known Eight O’Clock Coffee brand.

Jacksonville was strategically selected for its logistical advantages: the ability to receive raw materials by rail and serve as a central distribution hub for truck-based delivery networks. Completed in 1932, A&P’s bakery was situated at the northeast corner of West Beaver Street and Robinson Avenue. The three-story structure was designed to be fireproof, constructed with reinforced concrete floors, brick infill curtain walls, and metal factory windows. An Atlantic Coast Line Railroad siding along the east side of the building ensured efficient shipment of bakery products.

A&P’s decline began after World War II, when the company struggled to adapt to evolving market competition and retail trends. In 1968, the company relocated most of its distribution operations to a new warehouse on Jacksonville’s Northside, at 3101 Hilton Street,a site now occupied by Sysco Foods International.

Despite a short-lived resurgence in the early 2000s, A&P ultimately ceased operations in 2015 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in both 2010 and 2015. Its Jacksonville bakery and division headquarters closed around 1977. In 2000, the former bakery site was demolished by Beaver Street Fisheries and redeveloped into a modern 30,255-square-foot freezer facility.

Ambrosia Cake Bakeries Corporation

1727-41 Danese

Constructed in 1925 for E.L. Green’s Sunshine Potato Chip Company, this rusticated concrete block building at 1727-41 Danese Street was among the first manufacturing operations established in the Glen Myra neighborhood of Jacksonville’s Historic Eastside. By 1928, the former potato chip facility on Danese Street had become home to the Ambrosia Cake Bakeries Corporation. Originally founded in St. Louis by E.L. Bordo, the Ambrosia Cake Company specialized in the manufacture of fresh cakes. After relocating the business to Jacksonville, it experienced rapid growth. Bordo sold the enterprise in 1925 and moved to Burlington, Vermont.

The buyer, Earle P. Colby of Holyoke, Massachusetts, had moved to Florida in 1924. At the time, Ambrosia operated from a small building at 2917 Main Street. Colby’s business model focused exclusively on baking cakes and selling them wholesale to bakeries, which would then distribute them alongside bread to local merchants. Because Ambrosia’s cakes were highly perishable, lasting only about two days, they were priced between 5 and 39 cents and sold under various brand names.

As the company flourished, Colby became president of the Southern Bakers Association by 1950. With help from his brother, William C. Colby, Ambrosia expanded to include additional bakeries in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1954, the Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC) acquired Ambrosia, marking IBC’s first foray into the Southern market. Organized as a separate cake division under the leadership of Earle P. Colby, the operation generated $1.5 million in annual sales and marketed cakes under the Ambrosia and Dolly Madison brands. Its distribution area stretched from Key West to Washington, D.C., and westward to Arkansas. Over time, IBC evolved into Hostess Brands, known for products like Hostess, Wonder Bread, Nature’s Pride, and Dolly Madison. However, continued corporate growth led to the abandonment of the original Eastside bakery.

In 1956, brothers Clayton and Willard Smith repurposed the building for their bicycle business. Originally founded in Miami in 1944, Clayton-Willard Bicycles had relocated to Jacksonville in 1948. By 1976, the company began manufacturing the Emory bicycle at this location, becoming the first company in the U.S. to produce the iconic beach cruiser. Eventually, the business was rebranded as the Emory Manufacturing Company.

American Bakeries Company

2135 Market Street

American Bakeries was established in 1910 through the merger of three companies: the Highland Baking Company, Martin Cracker and Candy Company, and the Huston Biscuit Company. In the early 1920s, American Bakeries constructed a Merita Bread bakery at the intersection of 11th and Market Streets in Jacksonville’s Springfield Warehouse District. During the 1930s, it a second Jacksonville location operated at 703-05 West Bay Street in LaVilla.

In 1988, American Bakeries was acquired by IBC Holdings, which rebranded itself as Interstate Bakeries in 1991. To modernize its operations, Interstate Bakeries built a state-of-the-art 141,833-square-foot bakery on a 10.8-acre site at 201 Bush Drive East, located in the Imeson International Industrial Park in North Jacksonville. When it opened in 1994, the new facility was capable of producing 168 loaves of bread per minute and was described as the best-equipped bakery within a 500-mile radius.

Most of the original Merita Bread bakery in Springfield was demolished in 1999. However, some of the remaining buildings were repurposed to serve as the Fleet Maintenance Department for the Jacksonville operation.

In 2009, Interstate Bakeries rebranded once again as Hostess Brands, Inc. However, just three years later, in 2012, Hostess was shut down and liquidated. At the time of closure, the North Jacksonville bakery employed 128 workers.

In January 2013, Flowers Foods announced its intent to acquire a number of Hostess’s bread brands. The initial offer, valued at $360 million, included 20 bakeries and 38 distribution depots, among them, the North Jacksonville facility that had replaced the old Springfield plant. While Flowers did acquire the shuttered bakery, it ultimately chose not to reopen the location.

Darlings Bakery Inc.

825 Barnett Street

A longtime brand under the Winn-Dixie banner, Dixie Darlings Bakery, Inc. operated for decades in Jacksonville’s New Town neighborhood. Located at 825 Barnett Street, the wholesale bakery was housed within Winn-Dixie’s original corporate headquarters and distribution center. The brand was named after Edith (Dixie) Darling, a reservations manager at a Jacksonville hotel.

Baking operations at the site began in 1931 under the Suwannee Food & Baking Company, which was affiliated with the Lovett’s Groceteria chain. Founded in 1928 by William “Bill” Lovett, the grocery business rapidly expanded, reaching 78 stores across Florida and Georgia. In 1939, Lovett persuaded Table Supply to acquire a controlling 51% stake in his company.

This strategic move led to the formation of Winn & Lovett, which became the new corporate name. In 1952, it made history as the first Florida-based industrial corporation to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s distribution hub, which included the Dixie Darlings Bakery, became its official headquarters.

In 1955, Winn & Lovett merged with Dixie Home Stores of Greenville, South Carolina, which operated 117 stores. The newly combined company was renamed Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., soon becoming one of the top ten supermarket chains in the United States.

While the grocery giant relocated its headquarters to West Jacksonville in the mid-1950s, the Dixie Darlings Bakery continued operating at its New Town location until the mid-1980s. In more recent years, the former industrial site was occupied by Load King. Today, the historic complex is listed for sale.