It All Started in 1899 Jewel began as a band of door-to-door salesmen, selling tea and coffee from the back of horse-drawn wagons. Founded by Frank Ross and his brother-in-law Frank Skiff in 1899, the company launched with just $700, a rented horse, and a secondhand wagon. The partnership named their venture the Jewel Tea Company, the routemen called on their customers bi-weekly, coming directly to their homes. Over time, the company added hundreds of new routes across the nation, and the traveling Jewel salesman came to be a familiar, welcomed sight. Today, Jewel-Osco is a vital part of Albertsons Inc., a privately held grocery company that is proud to continue serving the Chicagoland area and beyond. In 2013, our parent company—AB Acquisition LLC—acquired Jewel-Osco from SUPERVALU. This transaction brought all Albertsons stores under singular ownership, and additionally expanded to include ACME Markets, Shaw’s and Star Markets to its growing roster of food and drug retailers. In 2015, the parent company doubled its store base through the completion of a merger with Safeway. At present, Jewel-Osco operates 188 stores throughout the Chicagoland area, Indiana and Iowa, part of a 2,200+ store operation employing over 265,000 people nationwide. All our stores—no matter under which banner they operate—were founded on the philosophy of offering customers the products they want at a fair price, with lots of tender, loving care. We still open our doors every day today with that core value in mind—and because of it, we run really great stores.