American Stores
Company History
Back To Our Corporate Listings || Back To Our Fact Book Table Of Contents
AMERICAN STORES COMPANY HISTORY
American Stores Company has a long and rich history in the retail food and drug industry. Members of the Company's founding family were pioneers in the concept of self-service retail stores. Samuel M. Skaggs, grandfather of former chairman L.S. Skaggs, opened his first Skaggs Cash Store in 1915, which was the predecessor to today's Safeway, Inc.
In 1939, the Skaggs family purchased four drug stores in Utah, Idaho and Montana, and in 1965 they incorporated under the name Skaggs Drug Centers, Inc. The Company grew initially through the acquisition of additional drug stores in the west and south, and from 1969 to 1977, through a partnership with Albertson's that developed food and drug combination stores.
Acme's roots can be traced back even earlier in time when a neighborhood grocery store opened in south Philadelphia in 1891 by two friends, Samual Robinson and Robert Crawford. Soon, these two retail pioneers had several grocery stores, and in 1917 they merged their operation with four other Philadelphia area grocery chains. The combined operations were named American Stores Company, and through the years this company, like Skaggs Drug Centers, Inc., grew and flourished.
In 1979, Skaggs Drug Centers, Inc. acquired American Stores Company and adopted the American Stores Company name. This pairing combined the grocery retailing expertise of American Stores Company's Alpha Beta and Acme subsidiaries with the drug and general merchandise and combination store expertise of the Skaggs entities.
In 1984 American Stores Company aquired Jewel Companies, Inc. adding Jewel Food Stores, Jewel Osco combination stores and the Osco and Sav-on drug stores to the Company's family of retail operations.
In 1988, American Stores Company acquired Lucky Stores, Inc., California's leading grocery retailer and the only chain to have significant operations in both northern and southern California. This acquisition made American Stores Company one of the nation's largest food and drug retailers.
From 1988 through 1992, the Company focused on reducing its high debt levels and limited its investments in the store base and infrastructure. In addition, the operations were managed in a decentralized manner and all operating divisions maintained full and separate procurement, distribution and administrative functions.
Back To Our Corporate Listings || Back To The Table Of Contents
TOP