Deals for Christmas at Jewel Osco

Jewel-Osco is a supermarket chain with locations in the Greater Chicago area. It is headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb of Chicago.

It currently has 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois, as well as eastern Iowa, and portions of northwest Indiana. Both Jewel-Osco and Jewel are currently subsidiaries of Boise-based Albertsons, LLC. After 1983, the Jewel and Osco stores consolidated together. They can be found in one large store. They present to the customers as one unit. A customer may check out items from any store at either the Jewel or Osco registers. Jewel and Osco merchandise can be found commingled throughout the store.

However, each operating unit keeps its own separate marketing identity to the public. It is estimated that 80% of all households in the Chicago Metropolitan Area shop at a Jewel-Osco at least once per month. Jewel-Osco currently employs 45,000 associates.

In 1899, Frank Vernon Skiff founded Jewel in Chicago. The company started out as a door-to-door coffee delivery service. It later expanded into delivering non-perishable groceries, and later into grocery stores and supermarkets. It delivered coffee beans that were exported from South America. In 1902, Skiff partnered with Frank P. Ross and the venture was renamed Jewel Tea Company.

The company expanded throughout the mid twentieth century. In 1934, Jewel Food Stores merged with the Jewel Tea Company. In 1937, Jewel Tea Company purchased an eight-story building in Chicago's Central Manufacturing District, which served as Jewel Foods Stores' headquarters until 1954.

In 1961, Jewel acquired Chicago-based Osco drugstores. It expanded into the home improvement retail market in 1972. The first Jewel-Osco food-drug combination stores were built in 1962.

Before 1970, Jewel Stores were typically located on arterial city streets. However, between 1970 and 1990, Jewel moved or expanded most of its stores to freestanding buildings with ample parking areas.