is a
Chain Pharmacy acquired by
The Jewel Companies, Inc. and owned by
Albertsons . Osco Drug traces its history back to
1915 by
S.M. Skaggs in
American Falls, Idaho , USA as a
Cash And Carry store. His son
Lorenzo L. Skaggs founded the '''Pay-Less''' chain in
1937 in
Rochester, Minnesota . In 1942, these chains merged with others including the Arizona chain named
Thrifty PayLess (distinct from a later chain by that name), and formed the '''Owners Service Company''', shortened to Osco.
In 1961,
The Jewel Companies, Inc. acquired Osco Drug Stores. In 1962, the first side-by-side Jewel and Osco store opened. The early "combo" stores were two separate stores, separated by an interior wall (in some locations, a half-wall), with the ability by the customer to go back and forth between each store without having to go outside. In the early years, many of the "combo" stores maintained different operating hours from one another and on certain days such as holidays, one side of the combo store would be open, while the other would be closed. By the early 1980s new and remodeled combo stores saw the "wall" removed and the store became one, except to this day, Osco retains control over drug, general merchandise, pharmacy and liquor departments in the "combo" stores.
In 1999, Osco Drugs and Sav-on Drugs became part of the Albertsons family of stores through the merger with
American Stores Company . The drug store division, known as Albertsons Drug Stores (ADS) is based in
Scottsdale, Arizona .
In 2002, Albertsons sold its free-standing Osco Drugs stores in the northeastern United States to
Jean Coutu Group , a Canadian drugstore company. Jean Coutu has rebranded the acquired Osco stores as
Brooks Pharmacy . In March 2005, Albertsons re-introduced the Osco brand name to the New England region by way of it's Shaw's and Star Markets pharmacies.
On January 23, 2006,
CVS/pharmacy announced its intent to purchase all of the Osco and Sav-On Drugs free-standing locations, and one distribution center in
La Habra, California . All of the free standing stores will be converted to CVS/pharmacy.
Eden Prairie, Minnesota -based
Supervalu has stated its intention of retaining and expanding the use of both the Osco and Sav-on brand names for use within its own in-store pharmacy network and at select Albertsons and all Acme, Jewel, Shaw's and Star Markets locations that contain a pharmacy.
is a southern California-based retail drug store chain. In 1980, The Jewel Companies, Inc. purchased Sav-on Drugs. In 1984,
American Stores Company , which owned Skaggs Drug Stores in the Rocky Mountain, southwestern, and northwestern states, acquired The Jewel Companies, Inc. and its drug store holdings, including Osco Drug in the Midwest, New England, and the Northwest, and Sav-On Drugs in California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1986, American Stores decided that they wanted to have one consistent brand name for their three drug store chains, as part of a strategy to build a nationwide network of pharmacies. Since there were more Osco Drug stores than either of the other two brands, they converted all of the Sav-on Drug Stores and Skaggs Drug Stores to the Osco Drug name. However, the name "Osco" did not resonate well with Sav-on's southern California customer base. American Stores quickly made the decision to change the name of the former Sav-On stores back to Sav-on Drugs, although for several years the stores retained a much smaller Osco banner next to the Sav-On sign. Suggestions that the Osco name was dropped due to its similarity to the Spanish word "asco" (slang for "I vomit") were dismissed
{Link without Title} by the company as "nonsense."
