Hartford, George Huntington (1833-1917), an American merchant, helped develop the retail chain store industry. He and another American merchant, George F. Gilman, founded the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P), a successful grocery store chain.
Hartford was born on Sept. 5, 1833, in Augusta, Maine. In the 1850’s, he worked in dry-goods stores in Boston and in St. Louis, Missouri. Around 1858, he met Gilman, and the two men became partners in the Great American Tea Company, a tea-importing business based in New York City. In 1869, they established the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and opened stores in the Northeast and Midwest. After Gilman retired in 1878, Hartford further expanded the company. Hartford died on Aug. 29, 1917.
