33 E. St. Charles Road
Welcome to the Villa Park Jewel-Osco!
Another week, another Jewel-Osco! Thanks again to Calypso for bringing us this store tour. The building this store is in dates back to at least the early 1960's, although I'm not sure if it has always been a Jewel-Osco. Inside, the store does not have the Legacy decor we saw in Elmhurst, but was instead remodeled with Jewel's version of the Albertsons Heritage decor. It previously had Premium Fresh & Healthy 3.0 (see the Clayton Acme for reference). Let's step inside!
Produce and floral are in the back right corner. The layout here is pretty different than Elmhurst's, so I'm assuming this store was either opened or significantly remodeled at some point before or after Elmhurst. Historical aerials show that the building has been its current shape since the late 80's.
As styertowne noted in a different Jewel, the pharmacy signage uses real brick. However, I don't think this is original to the store as they said, as during the PF&H era the backdrop was just plain gray.
Along the front end, we encounter Jewel-Osco's mascot Jojo for the first time. I believe they are the only mascot for an Albertsons chain.
Hey, we're in a Jewel-Osco, not Albertsons!
Other Images of Interest
Street View Images
2022
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Like Elmhurst, this store has a Huntington Bank branch (formerly TCF) and a large wine and spirits section. Interestingly, the "Osco Pharmacy" signage was kept even after the pharmacy itself lost that name.
2017
Still rocking the fruit pictures here!
And with that, our 32nd post of 2023 comes to an end! Thank you all for reading, and thanks especially to Calypso for sending in all these great pictures. I'll see you next week! Sincerely, The Retail Connection.
The mascot is a little creepy, lol.
ReplyDeleteYeah lol. I think it's the teeth.
DeleteI'm surprised Acme hasn't adopted Albertsons' Heritage decor in some form, and still hangs onto the Legacy-era "Quality Built" decor to this day. I feel that Heritage looks a bit nicer than Legacy/Quality Built, probably because it has a little more detail and 3D texturing to it.
ReplyDeleteI also forgot about Jojo! I didn't know he had his own line of cookies too.
I think I like Legacy a little more, but at this point Heritage would definitely be a nice change for Acme. At this point, though, I feel like it's more likely they adopt Lifestyle than Heritage.
DeleteI didn't know Jojo had their own cookies either, lol!