About this location
A few stories people tell about this place
1. In the early morning fog of Urbana, Illinois, a delivery driver noticed something peculiar outside Jewel-Osco. Every night, an old man in a trench coat would appear from nowhere and rearrange the canned goods on the shelves. Finally, one day the delivery driver decided to follow him. The old man led him through aisles until they reached the backroom, where dozens of identical trench coats hung neatly on hooks. With a twinkle in his eye, the old man said, 'Just pick any coat, my friend!' And that’s how everyone learned that Jewel-Osco had its very own secret Santa.
2. In the eerie twilight before dawn, a Jewel-Osco cashier swore she saw an old lady pushing a shopping cart filled with nothing but empty boxes and cans. She vanished into the aisles just as quickly as she appeared. As days passed, rumors spread like wildfire—was it a ghostly shopper or just a prankster playing tricks? One morning, a delivery driver found an empty shopping cart outside the store, filled only with crumpled receipts. Turned out, it was just a neighborhood kid having fun, leaving behind a trail of laughter and mystery.
3. One day in Chicago's Jewel-Osco, a delivery driver found an unexpected guest in one of the shopping baskets—a live goldfish swimming among the groceries. The delivery driver gently scooped up the little fish and placed it back into its tank, chuckling as he thought about how it must’ve been quite a journey through the aisles. Later that evening, a neighbor stopped by with some fresh bread and asked if they’d seen ‘the grocery store fish’—it had become something of a local legend.
4. In the dead of night, when only the moonlight illuminated the aisles of Jewel-Osco, a stocker heard a strange humming sound. Curious, he followed it down the frozen foods section and found himself face-to-face with a talking ice cream truck. The stocker rubbed his eyes, thinking maybe he was tired or hungry. The ice cream truck nodded knowingly and offered him a free cone. Smiling, the man accepted—and suddenly found himself standing in front of an entire aisle filled with smiling dairy products. Turning back, he saw that the truck had vanished into thin air. From then on, locals would occasionally spot a friendly voice calling out from among the shelves: 'Hey there, want some free ice cream?'