I saw this contemporary ad in last Sunday's Tribune Magazine and noticed the vintage Jewel buildings blended in with the new and modern green format to show a great historical perspective of the Jewel Tea Company's long and fruitful history in Chicago. We have seen these photos before most notably on Pleasant Family Shopping's excellent written archives and profiles of the Jewel company. It's nice to see a company embrace their own historical significance and heritage instead of black-sheeping away all the old photos in a dusty basement archives.
My mom and dad were always big Dominick's fans but for a time back in the early 1990s they shopped at Jewel on a regular basis. Sometimes it was the one located on the corner of Lincoln and Foster which became an Osco and much later on a CVS. Other times it was the one in the Howard and Western shopping center that closed in the late 1990s because a modern new Jewel-Osco down the street was kicking major butt on the little Jewel-Osco in a shopping center that once had Woolworth's and now has Unqiue's Thrift Store and a Dollar Tree. Occasionally it was the one at Lawrence and Central (pictured above) built in the late 60s and always much more different than the other Jewels even though today as an adult I still can't pinpoint exactly why.
I always thought of these smaller Jewels as severely small and outdated. This was usually why i loved going to Dominick's because the locations we went to were always much bigger. Little did I know that as a grown-up I would come to appreciate that outdatedness.
2 comments:
Didi - That's a great ad! I really like Jewel's use of their historic photos. They've done that a couple of times since their 100th anniversary in 1999, and I always dig it. I like your photo of the classic 1964-66 "Master Market" on Lawrence and Central as well. You can always spot them by those vertical white stripes. I was in Chicago last week (nice weather you're having!), and I really like what they've done with the new store interiors, replacing all the interior hodgepodge of the last 20 years or so while keeping the 60's exteriors on stores like the one you pictured. It's the best look Jewel has had in forever. And thanks for the kind words on my Jewel posts!
Dave, you are always welcome on the kind words. Your historical renderings are one of the few resources I have seen on the internet that is useful and integral to the history of the chains.
I also agree. I like what Jewel has been doing with the new remodels and the subtle 60s-ish lighting they have added in parts of the aisles are great! This is better than what Safeway is doing currently to Dominick's with boring earth tone hues and dim lighting.
I wonder if Jewel will continue to do more ads like this now that we are approaching their 110th year in business.
Now I must go back to my furry boots, Russian mock fur hat and the 100 layers of clothes I have on. The last couple of days we have had the coldest temps in at least 13 years. I wonder when the snow and icicles will take a hint and realize they are not wanted?
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