Eisner Food Stores

(Redirected from Big E (supermarket))

Eisner Food Stores was a chain of supermarkets in Illinois and Indiana. It was acquired by The Jewel Companies, Inc. in 1957. The Eisner stores were rebranded as Jewel in 1985.

Eisner Food Stores, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary of The Jewel Companies, Inc.
IndustryRetail
Founded1901; 123 years ago (1901)
Defunct1985; 39 years ago (1985)
FateRebranded as Jewel
Headquarters
Area served
Central Illinois and central Indiana
Productssupermarkets/food-drug stores
Parent
SubsidiariesBig E Warehouse Foods

History

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Albert Eisner, Sr. (1851-1926), a Hungarian immigrant, incorporated Eisner Grocery Company in June 1906 in Champaign, Illinois. In 1919, he entered into a franchise agreement with Piggly Wiggly, the first self-serve grocery store,[1] and opened a few Piggly Wiggly locations in Champaign and the surrounding areas. Those stores would later rebrand to Eisner stores when the franchise agreement was ended in 1951 by his son, Albert Eisner, Jr. (1885-1980).[2][3] Eisner, Jr. took over after his father's death in 1926, and by the 1950s, Eisner Grocery Company had more than 40 supermarkets in downstate Illinois and Western Indiana.

Acquisition by Jewel

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In 1957, The Jewel Companies, Inc. acquired Eisner Food Stores with its 41 stores in Illinois and Indiana.[4][5] Eisner continued to be managed from Champaign, Illinois. Within a few years, the Eisner stores began closely resembling Jewel in appearance and marketing strategies.[citation needed]

Eisner-Osco Family Centers

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The first store combination involving an Eisner Food Store and a second involving an Osco Drug store occurred when the first Eisner-Osco Family Center was opened in September 1970 in Lafayette, Indiana. The two stores were placed side-by-side underneath a single roof and separate by a partial wall while sharing a common entry/exit foyer but having separate check-out areas.[6] This type of store would be later known as a side-by-side partitioned store.[7] Later that year, another Eisner-Osco Family Center was opened in Bloomington, Indiana.[8]

In March 1971, a family center was opened in Decatur, Illinois.[9]

In November 1972, Eisner opened the first two Eisner Food-Osco Drug Family Shopping Centers in Indianapolis.[10] Three more would follow within three years to give Indianapolis a total of five.

Combo stores

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In 1980, Jewel started the construction of what become known as Eisner-Osco Combo stores in which the new stores did not have a partition to physically divide the two stores and that items from both stores might be intermixed on a common sales floor and purchased through a common cash register area. The computers that are attached to the electronic cash registers are use to sort the purchases for the different stores. A Eisner-Osco Combo store was opened in Mattoon in January 1981.[7] In July 1982, an Eisner-Osco combo store was opened in Bloomington, Indiana.[11]

Turn-Style/Eisner Family Centers

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In Indianapolis, Jewel opened three Turn-Style/Eisner Family Centers in late 1970 that combined a Turn Style discount department store with an Eisner Food store under one roof.[12][13] This concept did not last very long and the three Turn Style stores within each Indianapolis family centers were converted into Osco Drug stores by November 1977.[14][15]

Big E Warehouse Foods

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In 1976, Eisner created a warehouse store chain called Big E Warehouse Foods which sold food and other items at deep discounts.[16][17][18] Most of the warehouse stores were created by converting former Eisner supermarkets.[19] This money-losing experiment did not last very long. In Indianapolis, Eisner sold five out of eight Big E stores to rival Preston-Safeway[20] while closing the remain three stores in 1983.[21]

In at least in one case in which an under-performing Jewel Food store was adjacent to a Turn-Style discount department store, a Big E Warehouse replaced a Jewel store in Racine, Wisconsin, during the same time period.[22][23]

Demise of the Eisner brand

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In 1984, Eisner's parent, the Jewel Companies was unable to defend itself from a very expensive hostile takeover by American Stores.[24] After the takeover, American Stores decided to save money by merging Eisner directly into Jewel, converting all stores to the Jewel name in 1985,[8][25][26] and slowly started to sell off the former Eisner properties. One of the first properties to let go was the former Eisner warehouse facility in Champaign in 1986.[27] With the Champaign warehouse facility gone, many former Eisner locations became less profitable since they had to be serviced from the more distant Jewel warehouse at Melrose Park, justifying the elimination of those locations.

In central Indiana stores, the two Jewel Food stores in Bloomington were sold off in January 1990[28] while the three Jewel stores in Lafayette were closed in May 1994.[29][30][31][32]

Jewel also closed central Illinois locations that were formerly Eisner stores in Mattoon (in 1991),[33] Decatur (in 1995),[34] Champaign-Urbana (in 1998),[35] and Springfield (2006).[36]

Central Indiana

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The Eisner Grocery Company had a business presence in Lafayette, Indiana, since May 1925 when the first store was opened in that city as a Piggly Wiggly.[37] By November 1951 when the Eisner Grocery Company were rebranding their Piggly Wiggly stores as Eisner Food Stores,[3] the company had two stores in Lafayette.[38] A new Eisner-Osco Family Center was opened in West Lafayette in September 1970 to join the existing three Eisner stores in the greater Lafayette area.[6]

The company expanded to Bloomington, Indiana, by the opening of an Eisner-Osco Family Center there in November 1970.[8][39] An Eisner-Osco combo store was opened in Bloomington in July 1982 making it the second Eisner store in Southern Indiana.[11]

The Eisner brand was introduced to the state capital of Indianapolis through the opening of three Turn-Style/Eisner Family Centers in the Fall of 1970.[12][13] The Eisner brand was expanded into other parts of Indianapolis through the opening of two Eisner-Osco Family Shopping Centers in November 1972,[10][40] plus a third Eisner-Osco in August 1973,[41] a fourth Eisner-Osco in August 1974,[42] and a fifth Eisner-Osco in April 1975.[43][44] By the end of 1976, all three Eisner Food stores that were adjacent to the Turn-Style stores in Indianapolis were converted into Big E Warehouse Foods stores[17][18] and by the end of following year, all three of the Turn-Style stores in Indianapolis were themselves converted into Osco drugstores.[14] By August 1977, the remaining five Eisner Food stores in Indianapolis that were adjacent to Osco drugstores were also converted into Big E Warehouse Foods stores.[19] In 1983, five out of the eight Big E stores in Indianapolis were later sold to rival Preston-Safeway[20] and the remain three stores were closed. 1983 marks the end of Eisner's participation in the Indianapolis-area retail grocery business while still remaining in business in the Indiana cities of Lafayette and Bloomington.[21]

The Eisner brand disappeared from Indiana when the three remaining Eisner stores in Lafayette and the two stores in Bloomington were rebranded to Jewel in May 1985.[8][25]

Eisner Park

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In 1944, the Eisner family donated 4-acres of land to the city of Champaign for use as a park. The park was later renamed Eisner Park in their honor.[45][46][47]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Eisner Food Store · Early Jewish Life in Champaign-Urbana · Champaign County Historical Archives". urbanafree.omeka.net. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  2. ^ "Kathy's #Mailbag, Feb. 3, 2023". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  3. ^ a b "Eisner Food Stores ad". Lafayette Journal & Courier. November 8, 1951. p. 24. ProQuest 2147586226. A new name in a familiar setting. The birth of Piggly Wiggly in 1916 inaugurated a revolutionary method of merchandising foods. Piggly Wiggly Corporation held certain patent rights on these new methods for the use of which operators of Piggly Wiggly Stores paid stipulated royal ties on sales. These basic patents have long since run out and stores everywhere under whatever name I operated use them freely. For many years we have been paying a nominal sum for the use of the copyrighted name. The owners of the copyright now demand that we return to the payment of the higher royalties. This we refuse to do so...
  4. ^ "Jewel Tea Acquires Eisner". Wall Street Journal. March 14, 1957. p. 4. ProQuest 132356920. Jewel Tea Co. completed acquisition of Eisner Grocery Co. of Champaign, Ill., a chain of 41 stores in Illinois and Indiana, through exchange of stock.
  5. ^ "Eisner chain, Jewel effect stock merger: Make Disclosure at Celebration". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 13, 1957. p. B7. ProQuest 180091431. The merger of Jewel Tea Company and Eisner Grocery Company, operator of 41 stores in central Illinois and west central Indiana, thru an exchange of stock has been formally completed.
  6. ^ a b "Eisner, Osco Join Forces in new building". Lafayette Journal and Courier. September 24, 1970. p. 25. ProQuest 2162034653. The new West Lafayette Eisner-Osco Family Shopping Center on U.S. 52 Bypass brings together an Eisner Food Store and an Osco Drug store under one roof to provide a wide range of items for family shopping convenience. The 55,000-square-foot center features a spacious double entry and exit foyer with the side-by-side arrangement of the two stores and the separate check-out areas, makes it easy for customers to shop either store or both... In the West Lafayette store, second family center in the 16 states Osco serves... Joining the three existing Eisner Food Stores in the Lafayette area is the Lafayette area is the brand new store at 945 Nancy Drive, West Lafayette, just off U.S. 52 Bypass.
  7. ^ a b "Eisner-Osco plans Grand Opening Sunday". Mattoon Journal Gazette. January 24, 1981. p. 3. The Eisner-Osco in Charleston is a partitioned store, known as a "side-by-side". The new, larger Mattoon Eisner-Osco is a "combo" store, according to Carl Kolpin, manager of Osco Drugs, here. The combo store speeds up shopping for customers by allowing them to bring all purchases through one lane, yet still... The Mattoon Eisner-Osco is a... foot structure with 60 percent allotted to the grocery store and 40 percent to the drug store. According to Miller, the Mattoon complex is the first Eisner-Osco built from the a ground up that shares common registers for both stores. Eight regular check-out lanes and two express lanes are available for speedy service. Carry-out service will be offered... No wall separates the two stores, so a customer can put groceries as well as non-food and drug supplies Into the same basket and check them out through, the same lane.
  8. ^ a b c d "Eisners have a new name and new look". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. May 8, 1985. p. 19. Eisner Food Stores in Bloomington opened this week with a new name, Jewel Food Stores, the name of the parent company, and a new look. Jewel purchased the Champaign. Ill.-based Eisner Food Store in the 1960s. The first Bloomington Eisner store and a sister Osco Drug Store was opened at 514 College Mall Road in 1970 and was remodeled in 1977. A second Eisner, which also included an Osco Drug Store, was opened in the Whitehall Plaza shopping Center in 1982. Jewel, the suburban Chicago-based regional chain of over 200 super-markets in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, was founded over half century ago, In 1984 Jewel was acquired by American Stores Co.
  9. ^ "Business Briefs". The Decatur Daily Review. March 30, 1971. p. 14. An Osco Drug store and an Eisner Food Store will open Wednesday in Northgate Mall... The Osco store is the 186th to be opened since 1937. Stores are located in 16 states. The Eisner food store is the 35th of the Illinois and Indiana chain. There are three other Eisner stores in Decatur. The Osco store will employ 20 to 25 persons and about 80 persons will be employed at the Eisner store. The two stores, both owned by Jewel are next to each other. The Eisner and Osco stores have 21,000 and 10,000 square feet of space respectively.
  10. ^ a b "Happenings". Indianapolis Star. November 16, 1972. p. 7A. ProQuest 1892817505. Two new combination food store-drug store facilities operated as Eisner Food-Osco Drug Family Shopping Centers, open today at 8902 East 38th Street and 3902 South Madison Avenue. Each store contains 40,000 square feet of operating space.
  11. ^ a b "Indiana Business". Indianapolis Star. July 19, 1982. p. 22. ProQuest 1893624228. Osco Drug Co. has opened a new Eisner-Osco store in Whitehall Plaza at 3477 West Third Street at Bloomington.
  12. ^ a b "Turn-Style, Eisner Open Today". Indianapolis Star. October 17, 1970. p. 29. ProQuest 1893161394. Self-service merchandising will take a new turn today, into specialty shops under a single roof for food and department store items, with the preview opening of two Turn-Style Family centers and Eisner Food stores. An "open house" preview for the public will be held today from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the two new-store locations, 7803 East Washington Street and 8040 South U.S. 31. Unique in the mass-merchandising field, the 127,000-square-foot Turn-Style and Eisner combination is designed as a series of self-service specialty shops, each distinguished by its own identifying color and decorative motif.
  13. ^ a b "Turn-Style Adds 3rd Unit". Indianapolis News. November 5, 1970. p. 35. ProQuest 2497227895. A new Turn-Style Family Center will open in Indianapolis Nov. 15 at West 38th and High School Road near 1-465, bringing to three the Turn-Styles in the city. The additional store brings to 900 the number of employees in the Turn-Style and Eisner food store operations in Indianapolis. Like the stores on East Washington near 1-465 and the one on U.S. 31 South, the West 38th operation will have 127,000 square feet of sales space.
  14. ^ a b "Happenings". Indianapolis Star. June 24, 1977. p. 43. ProQuest 1893196062. Three Indianapolis Turn Style stores will be converted to Osco Drugstores, John Spurlock, vice-president and chief operating officer of Turn Style announced... Transition is scheduled to be completed in November.
  15. ^ "Turn-Style Stores To Be Osco Drugs". Indianapolis News. June 23, 1977. p. 43. ProQuest 2498592839. Three Indianapolis Turn-Style stores will be converted to Osco Drug stores... Stores will remain open during the remodeling, which is scheduled for completion in November. Osco Drug and Turn-Style, along with Eisner, a food store chain adjacent to Osco Drug stores in Indianapolis, are subsidiaries of Jewel Companies Inc.
  16. ^ Mann, Curtis; Garvert, Melinda (2017). Springfield. Arcadia Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 9781467124232.
  17. ^ a b Hanley, Marge (October 12, 1976). "Supermarket Ignore Frills". Indianapolis News. p. 12. ProQuest 2498592262. Two Big E Warehouse food stores opened in Indianapolis Sept. 28, the city's first taste of no-frills food shopping. The stores are owned by Eisner Food Stores, a division of the Jewel Co.
  18. ^ a b Lyst, John H. (January 23, 1977). "Shopping Experiment Proves It's Savings Over Convenience". Indianapolis Star. p. B13. ProQuest 1893183875. The current competition has been fueled by the recent conversion of three former Eisner Food Stores to "Big E Warehouse" stores by parent Jewel Company, itself battered by a big price war in Chicago last year. Aimed at the bargain-minded factory worker, the Big E stores play recorded country music for the shopping folks and make a point offering "no free bags, no carry out and no fancy fixtures... no games, no gimmicks, just low prices." Located on the East, South, and Westsides, the three stores were all conversions, the first a Turn Style store that hadn't been doing that as well as expected.
  19. ^ a b "8 Big E's Operating". Indianapolis Star. August 4, 1977. p. 40. ProQuest 2498530206. Big E Warehouse Foods has announced the opening of 5 more Indianapolis locations... The 5 new Big E locations join three others which opened last fall to bring the total to 8 stores in Indianapolis. All Big E locations have been converted from former Eisner supermarkets.
  20. ^ a b Niederpruem, Kyle (March 22, 1983). "5 Indianapolis Big E stores sold to Preston-Safeway". Indianapolis Star. p. 24. ProQuest 1893707624. Eisner Food Stores has sold five of its Big E Warehouse operations for an undisclosed sun to Preston-Safeway grocery chain leaving two-thirds of the Big E employees out of work. The five store will be closed for remodeling April 16 and will reopen later as Preston-Safeway Food Stores.
  21. ^ a b "Eisner will close last 3 Big E stores here". Indianapolis Star. November 3, 1983. p. 42. ProQuest 1893736379. Eisner Food Stores close its three remsining Big E Warehouse Food store in Indianapolis Nov. 26. A spokesman for the Illinois company said Wednesday the closing is "quite simply to a lack of profits".
  22. ^ Aldrich, Dave (July 4, 2008). "Turn-Stylin'". Pleasant Family Shopping.
  23. ^ Gallo, John (July 3, 2008). "Westgate Mall Racine Wi". Stores Forever.
  24. ^ Greenhouse, Steven (June 15, 1984). "New American Bid Gets Jewel". New York Times.
  25. ^ a b "Eisner stores will change name to Jewel". Lafayette Journal and Courier. May 14, 1985. p. D5. ProQuest 2162465697. More grocery items and remodel departments are apart of a new image Jewel Food Stores Inc. will be presenting in July while changing the three Greater Lafayette Eisner Food Stores' signs to Jewel.
  26. ^ "From the J&C Archives: June 29, 2015". Lafayette Journal & Courier. June 29, 2015. 19th (last) picture in image gallery. Joe Rupp, top, and Jim Volland, bottom, of Doyle Sign Co. in Chicago change the Eisner Food Store and Osco Drug sign, 950 Navjo Drive, West Lafayette, to Jewel and Osco. Jewel Food Stores Inc. has announced that more grocery items and remodeled departments are part of a new image the company is presenting this month while changing the three Greater Lafayette Eisner Food Stores signs to Jewel. Photo taken July 3, 1985.
  27. ^ "Gateway will replace Jewel as Eisner supplier". Supermarket News. October 27, 1986. Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Gateway will replace Jewel as supplier of products and services to the more than 60 independently owned and operated Eisner stores in Illinois. The Eisner stores had been supplied by Jewel's Champaign, Ill., warehouse, which is scheduled to close Oct. 31 and is for sale, according to a Jewel spokesman.
  28. ^ "Jewel plans to close Bloomington stores". Bloomington Herald-Times. December 27, 1989. Archived from the original on 2015-09-04. Bloomington's two Jewel Food Stores will close Jan. 10, the company announced late Tuesday. The assets of the stores - one at 512 College Mall Road and the other in Whitehall Plaza - will be purchased by Wetterau Inc., the St. Louis, Mo.-based food distributor that has a large warehouse and distribution operation in Bloomington. The east-side Jewel is expected to become a Mr. D's and the west-side store to become an IGA. Jewel came to Bloomington about 10 years ago when it purchased the Eisner Co., which operated the 512 College Mall Road store. The west-side Jewel/Osco opened in Whitehall Plaza when it was built.
  29. ^ "Shoppers face life without an old friend". Lafayette Journal and Courier. May 22, 1994. p. C1. ProQuest 2175761512. The Jewel stores in Lafayette and West Lafayette shut down Saturday leaving many regular customers shopping for a new store... Even though advertisements told people the Lafayette area Jewels would close forever at 6 pm Saturday, potential customers arriving there after 4:30 found locked doors. At the three locations, plywood boards were going up or sitting in the parking lot waiting to cover the windows.
  30. ^ "Jewel (continued from page C1)". Lafayette Journal and Courier. May 22, 1994. p. C2. ProQuest 2175762656.
  31. ^ "Jewel closing down all 3 Lafayette area stores". Lafayette Journal and Courier. May 1, 1994. p. 1. ProQuest 2176087609. All three Jewel grocery stores in the Lafayette area will close at 6 pm May 21, the company announced Saturday, leaving about 180 employees jobless. The stores are at 950 Navajo Drive in West Lafayette and 1404 Teal Road and 2200 Elmwood Ave in Lafayette... "These stores have been running at a loss for almost nine years." Maffia said, "Nothing we've been able to do has been able to reverse that negative sales trend."
  32. ^ "Jewel officially announces closing". Lafayette Journal and Courier. May 3, 1994. p. D5. ProQuest 2175982158. The announcement that Jewel would close its three Lafayette area stores on May 21 came as no surprise to the suburban Chicago firm that manages Market Square. The shopping lease with Jewel expires May 21, and Jewel had made no effort to renegotiate or extend the lease... Jewel announced Saturday that it also is closing its stores in Jefferson Square on Teal Road; and on Navajo Drive in West Lafayette on May 21. The date as picked to coincide with the expiration of the Market Square lease, said Dianne Maffia, public relations director for Jewel. "Those stores have been operating at a lost basically for nine years...
  33. ^ "Jewel sells food stores: IGA to take over on Sept. 9". Mattoon Journal Gazette. August 29, 1991. p. 1. After a seven-year fight to make profit, Jewel Food Stores is closing its Charleston and Mattoon locations, been running at a loss. Store on Broadway Avenue East will close at 6 p.m., Sept. 8... both the Mattoon and Charleston IGA stores will open on Sept. 9. Remodeling will be done while the stores are open.
  34. ^ Kleine, Ted (January 8, 1995). "Jewel to close 2 stores - Osco Drug Stores will remain open". Herald & Review. p. A1. Archived from the original on 2015-09-04 – via NewsBank. The city's two Jewel stores will close Jan. 28, laying off 115 workers, the company announced Saturday. Both stores were formerly called Eisner. The name was changed in the mid-1980s when Jewel Food Stores, the parent company, was bought by American Store Co.
  35. ^ Cook, Anne (April 6, 1998). "Jewel will close down two C-U stores after April 18". The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana). Archived from the original on 2015-09-04 – via NewsBank. The Jewel stores in Champaign and Urbana will close for good after the business day April 18, managers said.
  36. ^ Landis, Tim (July 21, 2006). "Local Jewels to close, reopen / Unidentified new owners plan month of renovations". Springfield State Journal-Register. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2015-09-04 – via NewsBank. The two Jewel-Osco stores in Springfield are expected to close by early fall, apparently for renovation and new ownership.
  37. ^ "Piggly Wiggly Store to Open: Dean Wilson in Charge of New Serve Self Grocery on Main Street Well known Business Man". Lafayette Journal and Courier. May 22, 1925. p. 14. ProQuest 2140491331. Lafayette's first Piggly Wiggly grocery store, located at 322 Main Street, will open the doors to the public Saturday morning under the personal management of Dean Wilson, who will be associated in the business with Albert Eisner, Jr. of Champaign, Ill...
  38. ^ "Piggly Wiggly ad". Lafayette Journal and Courier. November 1, 1951. p. 19. ProQuest 2140690857. Piggy Wiggy stores at 2315 E. Main [and] 720 Northwestern Ave.
  39. ^ "Store Opens in Bloomington on Monday; Features Top Merchandise". Bedford Times-Mail. November 22, 1970. p. 48. Today Osco has 178 stores counting the new one opening Monday in Bloomington, in 16 states Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Missouri and, of course, Indiana, where there are 11 Osco stores. One thing is immediately noticeable about the new Osco Drug Store at the Osco-Eisner Family Center on 501 College Mall Drive. There's an immediate air of friendliness among the employees, a feeling that spreads quickly among the customers... Jewel Companies offer a wide variety of consumer services in main areas of the United States. The Eisner Company of Champaign, which will be operating the grocery half of the Family Service Center is scheduled to open at a later date, is also a Jewel Companies subsidiary. Jewel and Osco merged in 1961 and Jewels leadership, understanding and corporate experience has helped Osco to expand at a rapid rate.
  40. ^ "Eisner-Osco ad". Indianapolis News. November 14, 1972. p. 34. ProQuest 2498310114.
  41. ^ "Happenings". Indianapolis Star. August 8, 1973. p. 48. ProQuest 1892856359. The grand opening of the Eisner-Osco stores at East 46th Street and Allisonville Road will be at 8 a.m. today. It will be the sixth Eisner Food Store and the third Osco drugstore in the Indianapolis area.
  42. ^ "Happenings". Indianapolis Star. August 12, 1974. p. 29. ProQuest 1892972831. The grand opening of a new Eisner-Osco Family Center in the Arlington Square Shopping Center at 1107 North Arlington Avenue will be held at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
  43. ^ "New Eisner, Osco Unit Opening". Indianapolis News. April 29, 1975. p. 24. ProQuest 2498634962. A new Eisner-Osco Family Center will open tomorrow at Lakewood Village shopping center, East 71st and Ind. 37.
  44. ^ "People". Indianapolis Star. April 29, 1975. p. 23. ProQuest 1893008544. The grand opening of a new Eisner-Osco store at 6935 Lake Plaza in the Lakewood Village Shopping Center will be held tomorrow.
  45. ^ "Eisner Park". Champaign Park District. 19 December 2016.
  46. ^ "Eisner Park (formerly West End Park)". ExploreCU. University Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
  47. ^ Jackson, Marcus (April 1, 2016). "What's in a name? Eisner Park". The News-Gazette.