Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Uh...California.

Moderator: Groceteria

Post Reply
User avatar
Daniel
Veteran
Posts: 283
Joined: 11 Nov 2005 04:09

Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by Daniel »

In doing some research some time ago, I found that Sav-On had opened a number of combination grocery/drugstores in the mid 80's, apparently getting as far North as Merced. From the news reports I watched, the Fresno stores opened in 1984 and closed the same year. Those stores were bought by Vons and re-opened as Vons in late 1984 or early 1985. (The Cedar and Dakota location kept the "S-O" logoed carts and the "Service Desk" signage from Sav-On until Safeway took over the chain and remodeled the store). I found another, smaller, former Sav-On in Sanger, now operated by Save Mart. The store in Merced was converted to Lucky and was purchased by Save Mart when Albertsons relocated to a new store a mile or so down the street.

My question is how widespread were these Sav-On food and drug combos, and why were they open for such a short time? Did Lucky own them at this time, or did they buy Sav-On later? It almost seems like Ralphs foray into Northern California, a lot of effort with no return!
User avatar
Groceteria
Great Pumpkin
Posts: 1927
Joined: 04 Nov 2005 12:13
Location: In the breakroom
Contact:

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by Groceteria »

Daniel wrote: Did Lucky own them at this time, or did they buy Sav-On later?
Actually, it came down this way, and the timing may explain the quick closures:

1979: Jewel Companies purchased Sav-On.
1984: American Stores, which already owned Alpha-Beta in California, purchased Jewel (and Sav-On, Osco, etc.).
1988: American Stores purchased Lucky Stores.

So no, Lucky did not own Sav-On at the time, and the closures might well have been the result of the 1984 merger, either due to antitrust (Alpha-Beta still had Fresno stores at the time) or financial issues.

As to the extent, I don't know. I've been in all the ones you mentioned as well, and they're the only ones I've seen. My guess is that Jewel was testing the concept in the region when it was acquired by American Stores.
luckysaver
Veteran
Posts: 295
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 17:10

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by luckysaver »

To clarify the former Savon division of Jewel/Albertsons:

- Savon started in San Bernardino CA as a pharmacy/drugstore (and has always been). The larger stores were called Savon Home Centers and included plenty of general merchandise, seasonals, local products such as local high school athletic fundraiser products (toy footballs, sweatshirts, etc), limited-assortment of household goods and hardware, garden center, pharmacy. There was never a Savon Foods grocery chain in Southern California as far as I know.

Example:
The former Savon building on Nogales/La Puente in West Covina CA (the brown building with labelscar) first opened in 1979 as a home center with garden products patio adjacent to the apartments on the left.

- During Jewel's ownership (pre-ASC), they combined drug operations with Osco Drug, Clark Drugs, and Rea-Derrick Drugs as well as in-store pharmacies for Jewel and Buttrey, which later became American Drug Stores under ASC.
- Savon's food operations have always been limited to convenience grocery (see CVS's grocery section for an example), diabetic food, liquor/soda, and checkout counter candies.
- Savon's connection with Lucky (since 1988) is primarily for distribution (Lucky Stores Inc trucks seen at the back of Savon stores), Rewards Card program, similarities in the look of OTC products, and later, the rebranding of Lucky pharmacies to Savon pharmacies, Lady Lee products, etc. In Southern California, Savon's headquarters were in Buena Park, which turns out to be the same building and warehouses as Lucky's Southern division. Although part of the American Drug Stores Inc subsidiary, Savon was part of Lucky Stores for the similarities above.

Finally,
- During the Albertsons years, newer or remodeled Savon Drugs stores renamed the convenience food section as "Albertsons Convenience Grocery". A Savon in Boise back in 2001 was the first and only Albertsons-built Savon Drugs to have a JA's Kitchen Service Deli inside the store. (It happened to be near the Parkcenter headquarters).
- Jewel Osco stores operated differently than Albertsons-Savon (or in the past, Lucky-Savon),
in a split-building style where half the store was the grocery (own store director) and the other half a complete Savon or Osco with its own store director.

luckysaver
User avatar
runchadrun
Veteran
Posts: 618
Joined: 27 Dec 2005 14:29
Location: Granada Hills (Los Angeles), CA
Contact:

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by runchadrun »

luckysaver wrote:- During Jewel's ownership (pre-ASC), they combined drug operations with Osco Drug, Clark Drugs, and Rea-Derrick Drugs as well as in-store pharmacies for Jewel and Buttrey, which later became American Drug Stores under ASC.
This is a very minor point, but Clark Drugs was acquired by ASC and merged into Savon in 1994. Unless you're talking about a version of Clark outside of Socal.
User avatar
submariner
Veteran
Posts: 258
Joined: 01 Jul 2007 02:13
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by submariner »

luckysaver wrote:Savon's headquarters were in Buena Park, which turns out to be the same building and warehouses as Lucky's Southern division.
luckysaver
So that's how CVS got the old Lucky Distro center... I never knew that Sav•On was headquartered there...
==========
Aaron
"his foxtail-wielding skills are unparalleled, dust bunnies fear his name"
User avatar
Groceteria
Great Pumpkin
Posts: 1927
Joined: 04 Nov 2005 12:13
Location: In the breakroom
Contact:

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by Groceteria »

To edge this back onto the original topic/query, here are a couple of shots of the Fresno area Sav-On food stores after their conversions into Vons:

Image

Image
User avatar
Daniel
Veteran
Posts: 283
Joined: 11 Nov 2005 04:09

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by Daniel »

Thanks for digging up that pic of the Cedar & Dakota Vons (Now closed, I don't know what's in there now). Here's a shot of the Sanger location that was much smaller than the Fresno or Merced stores.

Image

The locations I'm talking about definately sold groceries. The news footage I was watching dealt with the grocery and meat cutter's unions picketing Vons when they re-opened the stores because Vons did not honor the contract the unions had with Sav-On. The footage mostly showed the exterior of the buildings which is the same as what's pictured here apart from the sign saying "Sav-On Food & Drug". There was just one brief shot of the interior through the door, all I could see of the decor was a large photo mural of produce similar to Safeway's late 80's decor. I believe Vons did some remodeling to these stores when they took over, leaving only minor details such as the faux stained glass light covers in the liquor and produce areas.

The timing of the Jewel/ASC merger might've had something to do with the closures, as this was just about the time that the Alpha Beta stores in Fresno closed. I do wonder why they didn't just convert the Sav-On stores to Alpha Beta which would've brought them up to 6 stores in the area. And it's also interesting that Vons or another chain didn't pick up more of the Alpha Beta locations -- all but one of those went to IGA.
User avatar
Groceteria
Great Pumpkin
Posts: 1927
Joined: 04 Nov 2005 12:13
Location: In the breakroom
Contact:

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by Groceteria »

These are some video captures that Daniel set me a few years back of one of the stores in question:

Image

Image

Image
luckysaver
Veteran
Posts: 295
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 17:10

Re: Sav-On Food/Drug Stores

Post by luckysaver »

Submariner,

Savon headquarters at the Buena Park DC was the southern California district office. The entire division was actually based at the American Stores headquarters in Salt Lake. Facilities for Savon at the DC included a conference center shared by Lucky SoCal and Savon, the dry goods/general merchandise section of the warehouse for Savon/Express and the Savon in-store pharmacies inside Lucky, as well as education classrooms that hosted a number of health/diabetes care seminars and screenings (which ended after Lucky became Albertsons).
The screenings continued but no longer at the DC, now held at all Albertsons-Savon stores.

Is there a list of addresses for 1980's Savon Foods stores and how were they related to Jewel-T operations (since Savon was a Jewel banner prior to 1984)?

luckysaver
Post Reply