page_title: Jewel (supermarket)
section_title: American Stores
hierarchical_section_title: Jewel (supermarket) / History / American Stores
caption_attribution_description: English: Jewel at 2520 N Narragansett Ave, Chicago, IL.
context_page_description: Jewel-Osco is a supermarket chain in the Greater Chicago area, headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb. Jewel-Osco currently has 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana. Jewel-Osco and Jewel are currently wholly owned subsidiaries of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons. The company originally started as a door-to-door coffee delivery service before it expanded into delivering non-perishable groceries and later into grocery stores, and supermarkets. Prior to its 1984 acquisition by American Stores, Jewel evolved into a large multi-state holding company that operated several supermarket chains and other non-food retail chain stores located from coast to coast and had operated under several different brand names.
context_section_description: American Stores made an offer to acquire the Jewel Companies in 1984. The Jewel Companies, Inc. chairman Weston Christopherson was opposed to a merger and Sam Skaggs was forced to engineer a hostile takeover. On June 1, 1984, American Stores tendered an offer worth $1.1 billion for 67% of Jewel's outstanding shares at $70 per share.
  For two weeks, Jewel's management refused all comment on the offer, maintaining its silence even at a stormy shareholder's meeting before which Jewel shareholder groups controlling 20% of the company's stock were in favor of negotiating with American Stores. On June 14, Sam Skaggs and Jewel president Richard Cline reached an agreement after an all-night bargaining session. American Stores raised its bid for Jewel's preferred stock, increasing the total bid to $1.15 billion in cash and securities. In return, Jewel dropped plans for a defensive acquisition of Household International Inc. and accepted American Stores' offer. American Stores soon sold Buttrey Food Stores (in 1990), Star Market (in 1994), and White Hen Pantry (in 1985), to pay off debt and for other reasons.
caption: A current Jewel-Osco combo store.
exif: {}