Sav-on Drugs was a California-based pharmacy chain that was acquired by Osco's parent company in 1980.

Osco pharmacies can be found in Jewel stores, which are co-branded Jewel-Osco, as well as in Shaw's and Star Markets.

Skaggs, a Baptist minister, opened a grocery store in American Falls, Idaho, with lower prices on goods.

[1] In 1917, O.P Skaggs started a chain of self-service stores, and later sold the franchise in the western states to Christian Call.

Skaggs owned a controlling stock in a company called Quality Food in Minnesota and subsequently left the Safeway business.

The first store opened in 1937 in Rochester, Minnesota, and was named "Pay-Less" (different from the drug chain Payless founded later in the century), and was managed by George Hilden.

In 1937, while in the process of opening a second store in Mason City, Iowa, it was learned that another company had already registered the name "Payless" in the state.

In 1942, the corporation "Self-Service Drug, Inc." was dissolved and succeeded by "Owners Service Company", a partnership of L.L Skaggs, H.B.

That year Osco moved its headquarters from Waterloo, Iowa, to the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois.

[10] The 35th store in the chain was opened in the Park Western Shopping Center in San Pedro in September 1963.

[13] The company's general offices was moved from downtown Los Angeles to a new building in Marina del Rey in 1967.

[28][29] In 1962, Osco's headquarters was moved from Chicago's Merchandise Mart to Melrose Park, Illinois, and the first side-by-side "Jewel-Osco" store opened.

Outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, Osco operated stand-alone pharmacies (or free standing stores).

The facility, Crest Photo Lab opened in 1971, and serviced Osco's Chicago, Central and Eastern region stores.

RxAmerica began earlier in 1989 as a mail service prescription fulfillment center with a facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.

American Stores had a strategy to build a nationwide network of pharmacies, streamline operations and advertising to gain national recognition for the brand, especially for the high-margin private label products.

Rumors circulated at the time claiming that the reason for the name change back to "Sav-on" was due to "Osco" having the same pronunciation as the Spanish word asco (oss-ko), which means "nausea" or "disgust", a considerable factor within Southern California's heavily Hispanic market.

[37] The name change on all stores was completed in 1989, and the Sav-on Drugs brand was re-launched in Southern California and Nevada.

At the same time that the company was making major divestments in the early 1990s, American Stores also looked for opportunities to make strategic minor acquisitions that would enhance its position in the main markets where it needed to strengthen market share.

As a result of the decision, common functions among American Stores' operating divisions (procurement, distribution logistics, payroll, human resources, etc.)

From 1992 through 1998, American Stores consolidated operations and moved responsibilities of their division offices to their headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Although 'American Stores' food divisions retained an operating presence in their geographical locations and other centralized marketing, merchandising and other staff functions were relocated between 1992 and 1998 from Oak Brook, Illinois, to Salt Lake City to occupy the then-new American Stores Tower.

After American Drug Stores' move to Salt Lake City, Utah, was complete in 1998, Osco's Oak Brook, Illinois, 1818 Swift Drive headquarters was sold to the Follett Corporation.

In 2002, Albertsons sold its 84 free-standing Osco Drug stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine to the Jean Coutu Group, a Canadian drugstore company.

In March 2005, Albertsons re-introduced the Osco brand name to the New England region by way of its Shaw's and Star Market pharmacies.