Vons

Beginning

Charles Von der Ahe opened a 20-foot wide store named Von's Groceteria in downtown Los Angeles, California, in 1906. The business had grown to 87 stores by 1928, when he sold the operation to MacMarr Stores. MacMarr was acquired by M.B. Skaggs' Safeway in 1930. In 1932, Von der Ahe's sons Theodore and Wilfred Von der Ahe restarted the Von's Grocery Company.

In 1948, Von's opened a pioneering store which offered self-service, pre-packaged produce, meat, and deli items. By 1958, it had doubled in size to 27 stores, the third-largest grocery chain in the Greater Los Angeles area. In 1960 it acquired the sixth-largest, competitor Shopping Bag, a merger that was challenged by the Federal Trade Commission on antitrust grounds. In 1966 the United States Supreme Court ruled against Von's in United States v. Von's Grocery Co. (384 U.S. 270), forcing a re-divestiture of the stores, which were eventually sold to Fisher Foods. The Von der Ahe family sold the chain to Household Finance Corporation in 1969. In 1970, Vons had 128 stores, making it the second largest supermarket chain in southern California behind Safeway. In 1972, Vons acquired DeFalco's Food Giant, a San Diego supermarket chain.

1980s–present

In 1984, Vons was named official supermarket of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

In 1985, William Davila was named president and CEO of Vons, the first Mexican American to be CEO of an American supermarket chain. Prior to his appointment, Davila worked for 37 years at Vons before becoming CEO. He opened Tianguis in 1986, catering to Hispanic consumers, and was well received as the company's television spokesman, starring in commercials in both English and Spanish during his tenure. He retired in 1999.

In 1986, Household spun off Vons Companies in a leveraged buyout. To recapitalize itself, Vons merged with Detroit, Michigan-based Allied Supermarkets and sold off its assets outside California. Vons was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987.

In 1986, Safeway sold all of its stores in southern California and southern Nevada to Vons in exchange for an ownership stake. On April 8, 1997, Safeway acquired Vons for stock and Vons became a subsidiary of Safeway.

In March 2014, Cerberus Capital Management (which also owns rival grocery chain Albertsons) agreed to terms to purchase Vons' parent, Safeway. Cerberus' plans to merge the chains resulted in store closures, since both Vons and Albertsons had (and still have) a significant presence in Southern California; in late 2014, the FTC mandated that the new Albertsons/Safeway merger sell off almost 200 stores to allow for sufficient competition in markets where both Safeway and Albertsons stores had existed in price rivalry. One of the key buyers was Bellingham, Washington-based Haggen grocers which rebranded the newly purchased stores in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and Nevada in early 2015 only to sell back the affected stores just months later after Haggen was forced into bankruptcy as a result of purchasing the new stores. Haggen was soon after acquired by Albertsons.

Pavilions (supermarket)

Pavilions
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail (food and grocery retail)
Founded	October 1985 (41 years ago) (1985-10) in Garden Grove, California
Number of locations	26
Area served	Southern California
Products	Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor, floral, Wells Fargo, dry cleaning, fuel
Parent	Vons (1985–1997) Safeway Inc. (1997–2015) Albertsons (through Vons) (2015–present)
Website	pavilions.com

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. Although similar to Vons stores, Pavilions markets are more upscale and feature a larger selection of organic food, wine, and other specialty foods. Some stores that were smaller were branded Pavilions Place.

The stores also tend to be larger than the typical Vons store, because many of them contain full-service pharmacies, expanded service areas and specialty offerings as a standard feature.

The first location was opened in Garden Grove in October 1985 in a 55,000-square-foot former Zody's discount department store building. The new store included a seafood shop that sold live fish, a full-service butcher shop, bakery, tortilla shop, small pizza parlor, ice cream shop, delicatessen, florist, and pharmacy.