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.
Number of stores: 182 (2013)
Key Markets: Chicago