A&P Announces Purchase of 'Best Cellars'

Unique retail approach to guide reinvention of A&P beer, wine and spirits business, enhance food-wine connection aligned with Company's Fresh Food emphasis.

Company founder Joshua Wesson joins A&P Management

MONTVALE, NJ - (November 15, 2007) - The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (A&P)(NYSE:GAP) today announced the acquisition of Best Cellars, a New York City-based retailer renowned for merchandising "Great Wines for Everyday" by flavor rather than by origin, and at reasonable prices. A&P said co-founder Joshua Wesson, who created and operated the Best Cellars concept in five retail locations, will join the A&P management team as Senior Director of Beer, Wine & Spirits.

Reporting to Rebecca Philbert, A&P Senior Vice President of Merchandising & Supply and Logistics, Mr. Wesson will help lead the transformation of A&P's freestanding and in-store beer, wine and spirits operations, incorporating key elements of Best Cellars' innovative marketing approach. Under the terms of the transaction, the purchase price, which is not expected to be material, will be based upon the growth of A&P's beer, wine and spirits business going forward, to be calculated and paid after four years.

"This is an outstanding strategic fit with our ongoing Fresh food marketing evolution," said Philbert. "Joshua Wesson's creativity and expertise will be instrumental in elevating the look, feel, quality and value of our beer, wine and spirits offerings, in a way that parallels and interacts with our new Fresh store concept."

A&P currently operates 19 freestanding wine and liquor stores, as well as 12 in-store departments across its retail operations in the greater New York/New Jersey, Connecticut and mid-Atlantic markets. "This strong presence in and around our food markets presents a tremendous opportunity to parlay the food and wine connection in a truly synergistic way - creating both value and enjoyment for our customers, and a profitable marketing proposition for A&P," said Ms. Philbert, adding that the first example of A&P's new prototype beer, wine and spirits concept will debut in January in Westwood, New Jersey.

Best Cellars pioneered a simple concept of offering great wines for everyday enjoyment with food, sold at reasonable prices in an engaging and customer- friendly environment. Using instantly understandable words, icons and colors, Best Cellars' selections are organized stylistically (e.g. "SOFT" for medium-bodied white wines; "SMOOTH" for medium-bodied red wines), rather than by place of origin or grape type, enabling customers to shop for beer, wine and spirits intuitively, based on taste.

Commenting on his new association with A&P, Mr. Wesson said, "I'm tremendously excited about the opportunities we have in merging the Best Cellars concept into A&P. By merchandising beer, wine and spirits together with food, and in a multitude of ways that both educate and entertain customers, is too delicious to pass up. I've always believed that the future of beverage and alcohol is at the dinner table with food. Now, we'll have a chance to prove it."

Much sought-after as both a speaker at consumer events and an expert source by the culinary media, Mr. Wesson is widely regarded as a leading authority on the pairing of wine and food. He was honored as Best French Wine Sommelier in America in 1984, and named one of the top five sommeliers in the world in 1986 by Sopexa--Food and Wines from France. In 1997, Food & Wine magazine named him the Retail Wine Innovator of the Year for his work in developing Best Cellars, and in 2003, he received the prestigious Ambassador's Award from the European Wine Council. He is the author of two books, Red Wine with Fish (Simon & Schuster, 1989) and the just-released Wine & Food-A new look at flavor (Weldon Owen, 2007), and a featured contributor to American Public Radio's "The Splendid Table." He brings over 25 years of experience in food and wine to his new role with A&P.

About A&P
Founded in 1859, A&P is one of the nation's first supermarket chains. The Company operates 315 stores in six states and the District of Columbia under the following trade names: A&P, Waldbaum's, The Food Emporium, Super Foodmart, Super Fresh and Food Basics.

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