The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company the then-new concept of prepackaged tea under the "Thea-Nector" name. The tea company continued to use the "Great American" name for mail-order purposes. In 1871, A&P introduced another concept when it offered premiums, such as lithographs, china, and glassware with the purchase of coffee and/or tea at its stores. These premiums are now collectibles. George Huntington Hartford joined Gilman & Company as a clerk perhaps in the late 1850s; Hartford later was promoted to bookkeeper, then cashier, in 1866. By 1871 Hartford was in a position of authority and was responsible for expanding A&P to Chicago after its great fire.
October 2006 Yakima hops fire October 2006 Yakima hops fire The October 2006 Yakima hops fire was a large-scale fire that destroyed a significant amount of the US total hops production, in a warehouse located in Yakima, Washington. The fire started shortly before noon local time on October 2, 2006 in a 40,000-square-foot (3,600-square-meter) warehouse operated by S.S. Steiner Inc., one of the four largest hop buyers in the Yakima Valley of central Washington. By mid-afternoon, flames engulfed most of the building. The fire destroyed or ruined about 10,000 bales, each weighing about 200 pounds (90 kilograms) and likely worth $1.75 to $2 a pound.