Eisner Food Stores

Albert Eisner opened a few Piggly Wiggly stores in Champaign, Illinois. He soon founded his own chain, Eisner Grocery. It soon grew into a 43-store chain of supermarkets with operations in downstate Illinois and Western Indiana. In 1957, The Jewel Companies, Inc. acquired Eisner Food Stores, and within a few years, the Eisner stores began to closely resemble Jewel in both appearance and marketing strategies. Eisner continued to be managed from Champaign, Illinois. Following the acquisition by Jewel, most Eisner stores were remodeled into Eisner-Osco stores, which combined the products sold by Eisner and Osco Drug. The new stores included common checkout stands but separate store management, all under one roof. Some locations were next to a Turn Style discount store to form Turn Style/Eisner Family Centers, which had a grocery store, drug store, and discount store under one roof. In 1981, Jewel decided to expand into the downstate area and rebranded the Eisner stores. Today in Champaign, there is a park named after the Eisners, called Eisner Park.