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Jewel Food Stores began in 1899 when Frank Vernon Skiff and his brother-in-law Frank Ross founded the Jewel Tea Company. They used a horse-drawn wagon to deliver freshly roasted coffee to individual homes. They eventually established more than 1,500 nationwide service routes offering hundreds of products. In 1932, their Jewel Tea Company began a retail store division in Chicago with the purchase of 70 stores from Loblaw Groceterias.
Jewel merged with Osco Drug in 1961 and led the industry in developing the food-drug combination store format. Through subsequent mergers with American Stores in 1989 and with Albertsons in 1999, Jewel-Osco maintained market leadership, accounting for 40 percent of the supermarket business in Chicagoland.
Each year, more than 6,000 organizations, which focus primarily on education, health, and hunger, receive support from Jewel-Osco in the form of volunteer hours, food donations or monetary contributions. Of special note, Jewel-Osco is the largest single food donor to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, is a major supporter of the United Way, and is a founding member of the Chicago Minority Business Development Council.
- At a glance: Jewel-Osco is committed to serving its customers with the freshest and finest products and the most innovative retail features delivered by friendly, service-oriented associates. The company is equally committed to be a good citizen in every community in which it operates.
- Number of stores: 183
- Key Markets: Chicago