Skaggs Companies
Encyclopedia
The Skaggs Companies, Inc. was the predecessor to many famous United States
retailing chains
, including Safeway, Albertsons, Osco Drug
, and Longs Drugs
. The company owned several drugstore chains, but all of them were sold. Skaggs became American Stores
in 1979.
, where in 1915 Samuel M. Skaggs founded a grocery store and operated it as Skaggs' Cash Store, which was sold to his son Marion Barton Skaggs
. It took the name "Cash Store" as it operated on only a cash basis. With the assistance of his five brothers: Pepper Oscar Skaggs, Aron Sylvester Skaggs, Loronzo L. Skaggs, Samuel Olnie Skaggs, Levi Justin Skaggs, Marion Skaggs grew the chain, operated as two separate businesses, Skaggs Cash Stores (Pepper Oscar Skaggs) and Skaggs United Stores (M. B. Skaggs), to 191 stores by 1920, and by 1926 it had grown to 673 stores, when it merged with Sam Seelig Company (in a deal orchestrated by Charles Merrill
of Merrill Lynch
to form Safeway). Safeway later acquired Pay and Take It Stores from Loronzo L. Skaggs in 1928. Safeway is considered the main successor to Skaggs.
, which soon expanded across the western United States. Some stores were sold to his brother Samuel "L.S." Olnie Skaggs (then an executive at Safeway) along with some colleagues. L.J. Skaggs retained California Pay Less Stores, which became part of Thrifty PayLess
, and which are now owned by Rite Aid
. The remaining Pay-Less stores were renamed Skaggs Drug Stores in 1948, Skaggs Drug Centers in 1965. In 1969 Albertsons supermarkets and Skaggs Drugs partnered to create combination food and drug stores, a partnership that dissolved in 1977, with assets divided.
Payless of Tacoma would exist in Pierce, Thurston and Kitsap counties as a separate company from Payless/House of Values which was formed in 1973 after Seattle based Gov Mart/Bazzar and House of Values were merged. To separate the two companies (and confusion), the stores remained under the House of Values name before being rebranded as Value Giant. Once Payless of Tacoma declared bankruptcy in 1991, the company was merged with the existing Payless stores from the other company and the Value Giant name was removed for the existing stores.
Early photos of a Payless Drug Store from L.J. Skaggs ownership is currently on display at the Albany Regional Museum. Downtown Albany had an early location which spent most of its time on 2nd and Broadalbin St before being relocated to Santiam Highway during the 1960s.
traces its history back to 1915 by S.M. Skaggs in American Falls, Idaho
as a cash and carry
store. His son Lorenzo L. Skaggs, who had been involved in the predecessor to Safeway, founded the Pay-Less
chain in 1937 in Rochester, Minnesota
. In 1942, these chains merged with others and formed the Owners Service Company, shortened to Osco. In 1961, The Jewel Companies, Inc.
acquired Osco Drug Stores. In 1984, American Stores
bought Jewel
, which had owned Osco Drug since 1961. American Stores was purchased in 1999 by Albertsons. In 2006, Albertsons was broken up and many standalone Osco stores were purchased by CVS Pharmacy. The Osco name remains in place as the drug store component of Jewel-Osco stores.
in 1979, which had owned Alpha Beta
since 1961, and would assume the American Stores name. The company located its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah
. Combined food and drug stores in Alpha Beta territory were re-branded Skaggs Alpha Beta.
To consolidate the names of some of its subsidiaries under one title with nationwide recognition, American Stores renamed some of its Skaggs Alpha Beta stores to Jewel-Osco in mid-September 1991. American replaced the Skaggs Alpha Beta name with that of Jewel-Osco on all 76 stores in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas. One year later, Albertsons would buy 74 Jewel-Osco stores (some only months before named Skaggs Alpha Beta) in Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas from American Stores. American Stores and its subsidiaries would be acquired by Albertsons in 1999. In 2006, Albertsons was broken up sold to CVS Pharmacy and SuperValu (United States)|SuperValu]].
L.J. Skaggs along with his wife Mary Skaggs founded the Skaggs Foundation.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
retailing chains
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
, including Safeway, Albertsons, Osco Drug
Osco Drug
Osco Drug is a chain of pharmacy stores which today operate as in-store pharmacies under SuperValu Pharmacies. Osco Pharmacy is found in Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, Shaw's and Star Market, while Sav-on Pharmacy is found in Acme and Albertsons. Since 2006, Osco is a wholly owned subsidiary of...
, and Longs Drugs
Longs Drugs
Longs Drugs is an American chain of over 40 drug stores throughout the State of Hawaii. Before being acquired by CVS Caremark in 2008, it was a chain of over 500 stores, located primarily on the West Coast of the United States...
. The company owned several drugstore chains, but all of them were sold. Skaggs became American Stores
American Stores
American Stores Company was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1999...
in 1979.
Safeway
The first company was based in American Falls, IdahoAmerican Falls, Idaho
American Falls is a city in and the county seat of Power County, Idaho, United States. The population was 4,111 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Pocatello, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, where in 1915 Samuel M. Skaggs founded a grocery store and operated it as Skaggs' Cash Store, which was sold to his son Marion Barton Skaggs
Marion Barton Skaggs
Marion Barton Skaggs was an American businessman and leading member of the Skaggs Family of retailers who expanded the predecessor of Safeway into a major supermarket chain....
. It took the name "Cash Store" as it operated on only a cash basis. With the assistance of his five brothers: Pepper Oscar Skaggs, Aron Sylvester Skaggs, Loronzo L. Skaggs, Samuel Olnie Skaggs, Levi Justin Skaggs, Marion Skaggs grew the chain, operated as two separate businesses, Skaggs Cash Stores (Pepper Oscar Skaggs) and Skaggs United Stores (M. B. Skaggs), to 191 stores by 1920, and by 1926 it had grown to 673 stores, when it merged with Sam Seelig Company (in a deal orchestrated by Charles Merrill
Charles E. Merrill
Charles Edward Merrill was an American philanthropist, stockbroker and co-founder, with Edmund C. Lynch of Merrill Lynch & Company .-Early years:...
of Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...
to form Safeway). Safeway later acquired Pay and Take It Stores from Loronzo L. Skaggs in 1928. Safeway is considered the main successor to Skaggs.
Payless Drugs
In 1932 L.J. Skaggs opened Payless Drug Stores in Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, which soon expanded across the western United States. Some stores were sold to his brother Samuel "L.S." Olnie Skaggs (then an executive at Safeway) along with some colleagues. L.J. Skaggs retained California Pay Less Stores, which became part of Thrifty PayLess
Thrifty PayLess
Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States....
, and which are now owned by Rite Aid
Rite Aid
Rite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S....
. The remaining Pay-Less stores were renamed Skaggs Drug Stores in 1948, Skaggs Drug Centers in 1965. In 1969 Albertsons supermarkets and Skaggs Drugs partnered to create combination food and drug stores, a partnership that dissolved in 1977, with assets divided.
Payless of Tacoma would exist in Pierce, Thurston and Kitsap counties as a separate company from Payless/House of Values which was formed in 1973 after Seattle based Gov Mart/Bazzar and House of Values were merged. To separate the two companies (and confusion), the stores remained under the House of Values name before being rebranded as Value Giant. Once Payless of Tacoma declared bankruptcy in 1991, the company was merged with the existing Payless stores from the other company and the Value Giant name was removed for the existing stores.
Early photos of a Payless Drug Store from L.J. Skaggs ownership is currently on display at the Albany Regional Museum. Downtown Albany had an early location which spent most of its time on 2nd and Broadalbin St before being relocated to Santiam Highway during the 1960s.
Osco Drug
Osco DrugOsco Drug
Osco Drug is a chain of pharmacy stores which today operate as in-store pharmacies under SuperValu Pharmacies. Osco Pharmacy is found in Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, Shaw's and Star Market, while Sav-on Pharmacy is found in Acme and Albertsons. Since 2006, Osco is a wholly owned subsidiary of...
traces its history back to 1915 by S.M. Skaggs in American Falls, Idaho
American Falls, Idaho
American Falls is a city in and the county seat of Power County, Idaho, United States. The population was 4,111 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Pocatello, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
as a cash and carry
Cash and carry
Cash and carry may refer to:*Cash and Carry , the first network-televised game show*Cash and carry , a revision of the Neutrality Acts, designed to aid the British...
store. His son Lorenzo L. Skaggs, who had been involved in the predecessor to Safeway, founded the Pay-Less
Osco Drug
Osco Drug is a chain of pharmacy stores which today operate as in-store pharmacies under SuperValu Pharmacies. Osco Pharmacy is found in Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, Shaw's and Star Market, while Sav-on Pharmacy is found in Acme and Albertsons. Since 2006, Osco is a wholly owned subsidiary of...
chain in 1937 in Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...
. In 1942, these chains merged with others and formed the Owners Service Company, shortened to Osco. In 1961, The Jewel Companies, Inc.
Jewel (supermarket)
Jewel-Osco is a supermarket chain headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Jewel-Osco has 182 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana.Jewel-Osco and Jewel are currently wholly owned subsidiaries of Eden Prairie,...
acquired Osco Drug Stores. In 1984, American Stores
American Stores
American Stores Company was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1999...
bought Jewel
Jewel (supermarket)
Jewel-Osco is a supermarket chain headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Jewel-Osco has 182 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana.Jewel-Osco and Jewel are currently wholly owned subsidiaries of Eden Prairie,...
, which had owned Osco Drug since 1961. American Stores was purchased in 1999 by Albertsons. In 2006, Albertsons was broken up and many standalone Osco stores were purchased by CVS Pharmacy. The Osco name remains in place as the drug store component of Jewel-Osco stores.
Skaggs Drugs and American Stores
The Skaggs Family founded Skaggs Drug Stores. Skaggs Drugs acquired American StoresAmerican Stores
American Stores Company was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1999...
in 1979, which had owned Alpha Beta
Alpha Beta
Alpha Beta was a chain of supermarkets. Former Alpha Beta stores have all been purchased by other grocery chains and rebranded.-History:Before Alpha Beta was the name a of store, it was the name of a marketing concept used in grocery stores founded by Albert and Hugh Gerrard; it referred to...
since 1961, and would assume the American Stores name. The company located its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. Combined food and drug stores in Alpha Beta territory were re-branded Skaggs Alpha Beta.
To consolidate the names of some of its subsidiaries under one title with nationwide recognition, American Stores renamed some of its Skaggs Alpha Beta stores to Jewel-Osco in mid-September 1991. American replaced the Skaggs Alpha Beta name with that of Jewel-Osco on all 76 stores in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas. One year later, Albertsons would buy 74 Jewel-Osco stores (some only months before named Skaggs Alpha Beta) in Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas from American Stores. American Stores and its subsidiaries would be acquired by Albertsons in 1999. In 2006, Albertsons was broken up sold to CVS Pharmacy and SuperValu (United States)|SuperValu]].
Skaggs Foundation