Jewel-Osco interiors?

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pseudo3d
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Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

Has anyone ever catalogued old Jewel-Osco interiors? They've been on a recent remodeling binge with the current Albertsons LLC décor set, and obviously post-1999 they would have Albertsons or SuperValu interiors (PF&E, "Marketplace", Grocery Palace/"Theme Park", etc.) but what did they have prior? I imagine that maybe in the 1990s they had a red, white, and blue décor not unlike Acme at the time (when American Stores was trying to consolidate its operations), but what about in the 1970s and 1980s...?
pseudo3d
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

Like, is there an album anywhere or old publicity photos?
wnetmacman
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by wnetmacman »

Actually, in the 90's, they had a Stencil-lettered green package that they pushed throughout the short-lived Texas division (1991-1992, prior to the sale to Albertsons). It was pretty....horrendous. I tried to find a picture, but nobody has preserved it as far as I can find.
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pseudo3d
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

I do remember reading about how they had been "remodeled" somewhere, but did Albertsons keep any of them? My local Skaggs Albertsons/Skaggs Alpha Beta/Jewel-Osco/Albertsons seemed to have the "Blue & Gray Interior". And were they ever in any of the Chicago stores?
wnetmacman
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:I do remember reading about how they had been "remodeled" somewhere, but did Albertsons keep any of them?
At the time of the J-O Texas division sale, only one or two Jewel stores were not kept; the most glaring one was in Tyler, TX, because it was just up the street from the only Albertsons in town. It became a Brookshires Supercenter (the only one they ever opened) with no remodel. It didn't last long under Brookshire.
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pseudo3d
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

I meant in terms of décor, actually.
pseudo3d
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

Well, I believe I found an example!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rethinkre ... irS-97NYzs

Not sure if the rest of the store's like this, but I've never seen a store with the different colored stripes for departments (at least the Osco side).
wnetmacman
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by wnetmacman »

That isn't the package they installed in Texas. It was green and gray in all departments.
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

Well, no, but it does pertain to my original goal of J/O interiors in Chicago.
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by storewanderer »

The store in Michigan City had the stripe color interior until it was closed by Supervalu. It didn't look that bad in person, kind of dated... don't think there have been any of those left in Chicago in a long, long time.
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rvwalton
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

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pseudo3d wrote:Well, I believe I found an example!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rethinkre ... irS-97NYzs

Not sure if the rest of the store's like this, but I've never seen a store with the different colored stripes for departments (at least the Osco side).
Sorry to be so late to the party. I wanted to reply a few months ago, but I forgot my login credentials. That being said...

The picture shows the Osco side of the store with a little smidgeon of the Jewel side's decor. Here are a few photos of a closed store that shows the Osco on the left and the Jewel on the right:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stofza/6440189097/

This shows the Farmstand produce department along the right side of the store

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stofza/64 ... otostream/

This decor package was used in remodels and new stores from about 1989/1990 to about 1995. However, many stores were not remodeled again until the 2000's, so it lived on and on and on way longer than it should have, IMO. In the mid-1990's they started experimenting with different packages, but none of them looked like the Acme or Lucky interior package. In 1997, they started rolling out the package that Acme Style refers to as "Albertson's Marketplace." It was actually started at Jewel and then rolled out to other ASC divisions and, post-ABS merger, to Albertsons stores. Some blogs refer to it as "The Jewel Interior." I stumbled across this photostream on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alpha8472 ... 6324588056

This package went through several incarnations over the next few years. Pics one and two are very similar to the original incarnation I first saw at the Evanston Plaza Jewel-Osco in 1997, except Evanston Plaza had the "Grand Aisle" with Farmstand along the east wall, Chef's Kitchen running parallel to the Farmstand wall and Seafood and Meat along the back wall at the end of produce. If I can find any pics I will post.

In the early 1980s Jewel used a decor package that closely resembled its current logo, which it adopted in 1982 on the fiftieth anniversary of it opening retail food stores. The department signs were in all lower case and there was striping that had a 3-D effect. Next time I am in Chicago I will try to dig up some pictures from the library.

As far as I know, the only ABS decor package Jewel-Osco stores received was the one Acme Style refers to as Industrial Circus. I don't think very many stores received it. I've never seen that hideous design package with the spinning dioramas and suspended cereal bowls in a Jewel nor have I seen other ABS packages. Then again, I haven't visited all 189 stores so one of two might have received it.

It is interesting that Texas Jewel-Osco stores had a different (and dare I say uglier) package than the ones in Chicago. My recollection is ASC wanted to use the Jewel-Osco name because it had a great reputation. Seems like they would have wanted to use the same store interior. Strange. Than again, ASC was strange. After reading how Lucky and Acme fared (e.g. no investment) Jewel-Osco seemed to have escaped relatively unscathed.

Hope this helps.
pseudo3d
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

Jewel-Osco opened stores in Florida in the late 1980s, and they were huge compared to other supermarkets of the day (even today, Publix's biggest stores tend to taper off at 60k square feet). These were sold to Albertsons at the same time as the re-flagged Skaggs Alpha Beta stores (which comparatively were older, somewhat smaller stores). I wonder what decor they used. Interesting that the décor of the food and drug side didn't match, even though both "stores" had common checkout. The "Albertsons Marketplace" clearly took design cues from the early 1990s Jewel interior but trussed it up with more earth tones and other flourishes.

It's entirely possible that a few stores DID receive the package you called "hideous" (I believe only two or three ACME stores did), though it was more common (certainly in scaled-down forms) in the more Southern divisions (Florida, Houston, Southwest). Probably for the better because that package often contained flooring very distinct to the aisles and merchandise mix.
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by rvwalton »

pseudo3d wrote:Jewel-Osco opened stores in Florida in the late 1980s, and they were huge compared to other supermarkets of the day (even today, Publix's biggest stores tend to taper off at 60k square feet). These were sold to Albertsons at the same time as the re-flagged Skaggs Alpha Beta stores (which comparatively were older, somewhat smaller stores). I wonder what decor they used. ...
I would love to find interior pics of those stores.
pseudo3d wrote:...Interesting that the décor of the food and drug side didn't match, even though both "stores" had common checkout. ...
That's the funny thing- in the Chicago-area stores the Osco and Jewel sides often did not match until the mid-1990's earth toned interior package. My guess is they were trying to emphasise that the store was a supermarket and a drugstore. Also, the Jewel side was under the Jewel division and the Ocso side was under the Osco division until sometime in the 1990s.
pseudo3d wrote:... The "Albertsons Marketplace" clearly took design cues from the early 1990s Jewel interior but trussed it up with more earth tones and other flourishes....
"Albertsons Marketplace" is a modified late-1990's/early 200's Jewel interior which, as you mentioned, was an upgraded early 90's decor.
pseudo3d wrote:...It's entirely possible that a few stores DID receive the package you called "hideous" (I believe only two or three ACME stores did), though it was more common (certainly in scaled-down forms) in the more Southern divisions (Florida, Houston, Southwest). Probably for the better because that package often contained flooring very distinct to the aisles and merchandise mix.
I don't doubt it, but the likelihood is slim given Albertson's rolled the Jewel package to its own stores after the debut of whatever they called that package. However, that's just speculation. I moved from Chicago in 2000 and as much as I love Jewel, I don't visit every store when I go back home. ;)
pseudo3d
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by pseudo3d »

rvwalton wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:...It's entirely possible that a few stores DID receive the package you called "hideous" (I believe only two or three ACME stores did), though it was more common (certainly in scaled-down forms) in the more Southern divisions (Florida, Houston, Southwest). Probably for the better because that package often contained flooring very distinct to the aisles and merchandise mix.
I don't doubt it, but the likelihood is slim given Albertson's rolled the Jewel package to its own stores after the debut of whatever they called that package. However, that's just speculation. I moved from Chicago in 2000 and as much as I love Jewel, I don't visit every store when I go back home. ;)
Albertsons pushed at least 3 packages simultaneously, and the deluxe package with the hanging props was done primarily after 2000, roughly until about 2004.
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Re: Jewel-Osco interiors?

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:Albertsons pushed at least 3 packages simultaneously, and the deluxe package with the hanging props was done primarily after 2000, roughly until about 2004.
Actually, Albertsons was using the hanging props in late 1998. A store that was built in Natchitoches, LA that opened in early 1999 had that decor package, and the manager commented at that time that it wasn't the first store with that package.
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