Joliet Jewel-Osco on Larkin Avenue won’t see changes, attorney for ownership group says

Ownership may change, but the Jewel-Osco store on Larkin Avenue in Joliet will stay the same, an attorney for the prospective buyer said Monday.

The store would be sold off as part of a corporate merger still awaiting approval from the Federal Trade Commission.

The Jewel-Osco brand and product lines, along with the current management and employees would stay, attorney Kevin Gerow told the Joliet City Council at its workshop meeting Monday.

The council on Tuesday will vote on a transfer of the liquor license for the Jewel-Osco store to the prospective owner.

Gerow represents C & S Wholesale Grocers, whose stores include Piggly Wiggly Supermarkets. The company is buying a number of Jewel-Osco and Mariano’s stores being spun off from current ownership as Jewel-Osco parent company Albertsons merges with Kroger.

“They recognize that the Jewel-Osco brand as well as Mariano’s has a lot of weight and good will in this area, so they intend to do no branding change,” Gerow told the council. “It’s going to remain as a Jewel-Osco.”

Council members showed curiosity in the future of the store, which has been on Larkin Avenue since the 1960s, including whether the customer experience at the checkout line would change. Gerow said it would stay the same.

The Jewel-Osco store in Joliet at 1401 W. Jefferson St. and would remain with the merged company, according to the plan.

The Jewel-Osco on Larkin is located nearly next door to a Food 4 Less, which is owned by Kroger, and that may have prompted the sale of the Jewel-Osco.

The merger has faced questions from the FTC, which is examining anti-trust issues in the merger of two of the biggest supermarket chains in the nation.

But Gerow said the deal is expected to be completed Oct. 13.

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