Vons history

In 1916, founder, H.D. Snell, opens his first United Cash Store.

In 1919, Davis purchases the George C. Shaw Company of Portland, Maine, and operates the two companies independently.

Safeway Inc. is founded in 1926 when M.B. Skaggs merges his 428 Skaggs stores with 322 Safeway (formerly Selig) stores.

Von der Ahe pioneered "cash and carry" as an alternative to "charge and delivery." His formula proved so successful that by 1928, Vons had expanded to 87 stores.

Von der Ahe had the foresight to sell his stores to McMarr Stores in 1929, before the stock market crash decimated the value of commercial properties.

MacMarr was acquired by M.B. Skaggs' Safeway in 1930.

In 1932, his sons Theodore and Wilfred Von der Ahe restarted the Von's Grocery Company.

In 1934, Jewel closes all stores for three days.

In 1967 the merger was challenged by the Federal Trade Commission.

In 1969 Vons was bought out by the Household Finance Corporation, later Household International, which added the chain to its Household Merchandising division.

The most explosive growth occurred during the 1970's when Vons branched out to 159 stores with 16,000 employees, making it firmly the #1 grocery retailer in Southern California.

In October 1985, Vons introduced Pavilions, a "combination store" concept which offered a wider variety of upscale products as well as pharmacy and other non-food products and services.

In December 1986, Vons announced that a $700 million deal had been struck with Allied Supermarkets, Inc., a publicly listed Detroit retail and wholesale food marketer.

In January 1987 the company opened its first Tianguis superstore in Montebello, California, designed to cater to the specific needs of Hispanic customers, especially first-generation immigrants.

In 1988, Safeway sold all of its stores in southern California and southern Nevada to Vons in exchange for an ownership stake.

By November 1990, sales per square foot at the former Safeway stores had risen to $615 from an average of $447 at the time of the buyout.

In January 1992 Vons acquired family-owned Williams Brothers Markets for $48 million in cash and a liability of $10 million on Williams Brothers' outstanding mortgages.

In response, Vons instituted a restructuring program in the third quarter of 1993, taking a $57 million charge for a cost-cutting program that involved a workforce reduction of about 15 percent, salary freezes, and other initiatives.

Simultaneously, the company launched the Vons Value program, which began in January 1994 and featured 18,000 price reductions.

Continuing its recovery efforts, Vons spent $175 million in 1995 to open ten new stores and remodel 65 existing stores.

In 1996 Vons added 12 new stores to its chain, eight of them replacements for older units that were closed down and four of them bought from Smith's Food & Drug.

On April 8, 1997, Safeway acquired Vons for stock and Vons became a subsidiary of Safeway.

In December 1998 Vons bought eight stores from the Ralphs chain and subsequently remodeled them and reopened them under the Vons banner.

By January 1999 there were a total of 324 Vons and Pavilions stores.

Albertsons LLC successfully acquires all of the remaining assets purchased by SUPERVALU in 2006, re-establishes the corporate headquarters in Boise, and brings a fresh approach to Boise’s favorite hometown grocery store.

In late 2014, the FTC mandated that the new Albertson's/Safeway merger sell off almost 200 stores to allow for sufficient competition in markets where both Safeway and Albertson's stores had existed in price rivalry.

In 2017 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave nearly $300 million in food and financial support.

© 2021 Albertsons Companies.