Jewel-Osco is a chain of supermarkets owned by Albertsons.
History[]
In 1899, Frank Vernon Skiff founded Jewel as a door-to-door coffee service. In 1902, Skiff partnered with Frank Ross, and renamed the company the Jewel Tea Company. The chain expanded throughout the mid-20th century. In 1932, Jewel acquired 72 self-service stores and four grocery stores, and renamed them Jewel Food Stores. In 1934, Jewel Food merged with Jewel Tea. After many years, Jewel started expanding. It acquired Osco Drug in 1961. Also that year, Jewel acquired Turn-Style, a discount store chain in the East Coast.
A Jewel-Osco On Nelson Road In New Lenox, Illinois
Jewel created new formats, including the "Jewel Grand Bazaar" in the early to mid 1970s. After 1983, most Jewels and Oscos were put together under one roof, officially creating "Jewel-Osco", though independent Jewel stores still continue to exist. Until 2010, Jewel-Oscos stores were operated separately (drug and supermarket parts, each with their own manager). In 1984, American Stores purchased Jewel-Osco. From there, American Stores attempted to expand the chain, even rebranding their Skaggs Alpha Beta stores in the Texas, Arkansas, and Florida as Jewel-Osco in 1991 before selling the division to Albertsons in 1992.
In 1999, Albertsons purchased American Stores, before the company was split and moved to "New Albertsons Inc.", a SuperValu division. Stand-alone Osco Drug stores became CVS Pharmacy. In 2013, New Albertsons was sold from SuperValu to AB Acquisition LLC, parent company of Albertsons LLC. After the purchase of Safeway closes, Jewel-Osco will remain a division of the new company.