Groceteria.com

I was reading an article from Los Angeles Business Journal about Smith's "re-entry" into the SoCal market in the early 1990s (they had previously had stores in the 1970s). The article implied that SoCal was a tough market (and for Smith's, it was, as you know, they pulled out in 1996) listing some of the chains that pulled out of SoCal.

Southern California has a history of out-of-state chains which have attempted to establish a beachhead in the market -- and failed. Out-of-state chains that have left the Southern California area include Jewel Food Stores of Melrose Park, Ill.; Fazio's of Cleveland, A&P of Monclair, N.J.; and The Kroger Co. of Cincinnati.

Kroger we know of (they operated Market Basket and left in 1982), Fazio's and A&P we know of (they were eventually assumed into "Fazio's Shopping Bag" and purchased by Albertsons), and...Jewel? When did Jewel operate any SoCal stores? Sure they had stores to the west (Buttrey) and to the east (Star Market) that were sold off under American Stores and ultimately reunited with under Albertsons, but I don't remember Jewel having any SoCal stores...am I missing something here?

Jewel Tea (the actual tea shops and delivery business) had SoCal stores early on and delivery through at least the 1970s, per some LA Times references, but no locations of the supermarket chain AFAIK. And Sav-on Drugs was rebranded as Osco for a time. I wonder if either of those things might have caused the reporter's confusion.

Groceteria wrote: ↑14 Mar 2024 19:43 Jewel Tea (the actual tea shops and delivery business) had SoCal stores early on and delivery through at least the 1970s, per some LA Times references, but no locations of the supermarket chain AFAIK. And Sav-on Drugs was rebranded as Osco for a time. I wonder if either of those things might have caused the reporter's confusion.

Right, but they were thinking strictly in terms of supermarkets...in 1991, both Sav-on and/or Osco had been operational in California for a number of years and would do so until 2006 when the old Sav-on/Osco drug division got sold to CVS.

It's also possible they were confusing it with the "Jewel T" warehouse stores which stretched down to where Jewel had no presence otherwise like Texas.

I thought this had been discussed before and yes, it has and yes, they had Jewel T (limited assortment stores) in the LA area: https://www.groceteria.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=97