Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Green bananas.

recollection by John Melançon

[The reason I know bananas are shipped here green and gassed to ripen them is that]
in one of my jobs in my youth I worked in the warehouse of probably A&P. So this was a Philadelphia warehouse for A&P and one of our jobs was to go around filling the orders for these stores-- not talking about six jars are something, but skids of stuff that fill up a truck.

Everything [was stored in huge warehouses, including for fruits and vegetables.]

The bananas were gassed there.

I remember walking by, there was a huge danger sign, unauthorized personnel and all that jazz. I didn't have to read that twice to stay away.

Atlantic and Pacific Tea company, A&P. That was a humongous giant in this country, and there wasn't a burg that didn't have one. At least one.

(me: and what happened to A&P?)