Editing Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs (section)

===American Stores Company ===
In 1984, [[American Stores]] Company, which consisted of [[Alpha Beta]], [[Acme Markets]], and Skaggs, acquired The Jewel Companies Inc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/06/14/Jewel-American-Stores-agree-to-merge/5512456033600/|title=Jewel, American Stores agree to merge|website=UPI|language=en|access-date=2020-04-20}}</ref>

====American Drug Stores, Inc.====
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[[File:American Drug Stores.PNG|American Drug Stores]]
In 1989, a new subsidiary, American Drug Stores, Inc., was formed and consisted of [[American Stores]] drugstore holdings of Osco Drug, Sav-on Drugs, the Osco side of the [[Jewel-Osco]] food-drug combination stores and RxAmerica. RxAmerica began earlier in 1989 as a mail service prescription fulfillment center with a facility in [[Salt Lake City, Utah]].

====Sav-on re-branding and relaunching====
[[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. The name Osco Drug was chosen as the national chain banner because of the large number of stores which already had that name and existed in various parts of the US. The name change was completed for the ''Skaggs'' drugstores in 1985 and then for the ''Sav-on'' stores in 1986. The name "Osco" did not resonate well with ''Sav-on's'' [[Southern California]] customer base. American Stores eventually made the decision to change the name of the former ''Sav-on'' stores back to Sav-on Drugs. 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 {{Lang|es|asco}} (oss-ko), which means "nausea" or "disgust", a considerable factor within Southern California's heavily Hispanic market. This explanation for the name change was refuted by American Stores.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/disgust-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/|title=FACT CHECK: Osco Renaming|website=Snopes.com}}</ref>

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

====Sav-on Express, Reliable Drug, Clark Drug====
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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.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}
* The company's California drugstore operations were enhanced through the early 1992 $60 million purchase of 85 [[CVS Corporation|CVS Stores]] (63 [[CVS Pharmacy]] drugstores and the rights to operate 22 CVS health and beauty aid stores) from the [[Melville Corporation]]. These stores converted to the Sav-on Drugs and Sav-on Express banners. Later that year, 30 [[Thrifty PayLess|Thrifty]] and ''Rx Plus'' drugstores in Arizona and Nevada were acquired.
* The following year '''Reliable Drug''' (a 55 unit chain) in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri was bought. These stores were soon re-bannered as Osco Drug stores.
* In February 1995, American Stores spent about $37 million for 17 '''Clark Drug''' stores in southern California, which were then converted to the Sav-on Drugs name.

====Consolidation of operations====
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In 1992, American Stores shifted its strategy from that of a holding company to a centralized operating company. As a result of the decision, common functions among American Stores' operating divisions (procurement, distribution logistics, payroll, human resources, etc.) were removed from the operating divisions, consolidated and run centrally.  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. Pharmacy operations were relocated to Scottsdale Arizona with certain pharmacy systems-related resources continuing to operate from the Chicago area after being relocated to 3030 Cullerton Drive in Franklin Park, Illinois.

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]].

====Osco Foodmarts====
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In 1994, American Stores converted 25 Jewel Food Stores in Chicago, Illinois, to Osco Drug free-standing stores.  These older and smaller Jewel stand-alone stores were closed so that American Stores could focus on the combination formats only for Jewel and to expand Osco's presence in Chicago as a response to [[Walgreens]] increasing market dominance. The Osco stores replacing the Jewel stores contained expanded food and produce presentations and were coined 'Osco Foodmarts'.

====Health 'n' Home====
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To extend its core drugstore business, in November 1995 American Drug Stores launched a new format called '''Health 'n' Home''', which was a {{convert|28000|sqft|m2|adj=on}}, 18,000-item home health care superstore. The first Health 'n' Home opened in Phoenix, Arizona, and by late 1997 there were 20 Health 'n' Home stores in four states.

====RxAmerica====
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In 1998, American Stores RxAmerica division and [[Longs Drug Stores]] Integrated Health Concepts (IHC) division agreed to merge their Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) ventures. Under terms of the joint venture, RxAmerica and its former corporate partner, Geneva Pharmaceuticals, parted ways, and RxAmerica combined with Longs' IHC division in a 50/50 partnership. The alliance created a national PBM of nearly 1,400 Longs and American Stores pharmacy outlets and a nationwide network of 40,000 pharmacies serving some 3 million patients under contract. Longs and Albertsons remained equal partners up though 2001, when Albertsons sold their 50% interest to Longs.