A&P (Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company)

A&P's 2015 liquidation ended what was once America's largest retailer—a company that pioneered chain store economics in 1859. From 16,000 stores at peak to zero took decades of competitive exclusion by supermarkets, then superstores, then Walmart. Like watching geological time compressed, A&P's decline shows how retail formats have ever-shortening lifespans as evolution accelerates.