Eagle Food Centers

In 1893, Tenenbom family opened the forerunner of Eagle's chain in Davenport. In 1921, Geifman's and Eagle Kash and Karry opened small neighborhood markets in the Quad-Cities, which specialized in fruits and vegetables. These two operations grew during the 1930s as both family operations added new stores. Eagle's was owned by brothers-in-law, Frank Weindruch and Isadore Pesses. The Max Geifman, of Rock Island, and his sons, Ben and Morris, owned the Illinois Geifman stores. Their uncle George and his sons, Morris and Sam owned the Iowa Geifman stores. By 1935, self-service had become an important part of the grocery business, with Eagle and other stores responding by allowing self-service at lower prices.

In 1952, Abe Tenenbom died, and his nephew, Richard Waxenberg took over Tenenboms, and the Illinois Geifman's merged their five stores with the eight stores of Davenport's Tenenbom-Waxenberg family. Together, they became known as United Supermarkets. In 1954, United merged with 10 stores of Eagle Kash and Karry, forming the largest area chain, called Eagle-United Supermarkets. In 1957, construction was completed of the New Milan warehouse with 155,000 square feet (14,400 m²) of space. The former Eagle warehouse on Fifth Avenue in Moline was sold to Fresh-Pak Candy. In 1961, Eagle was purchased by Consolidated Foods Corp. of Chicago, one of the nation's leading food processors and distributors. Consolidated operated 68 Piggly Wiggly stores at that time. The Eagle and Piggly Wiggly operations were then combined and operated from Eagle's corporate office and warehouse in Milan, Illinois. In 1965, Coin Bakery (of Rock Island) was purchased and became a part of Eagle, under the name Harvest Day Bakery.

In 1968, California-based Lucky Stores bought Eagle Food Centers from Consolidated Foods Corporation. Eagle Food Centers and Piggly Wiggly stores were renamed Eagle Discount Supermarkets, following Lucky's successful discount pricing program. Lucky established Lucky Midwestern Division headquarters in Milan, Illinois.

In 1981, Eagle operated 136 stores and had sales of $1.2 billion. Eagle expanded into the Midwest by opening a new distribution center in Westville, Indiana. In 1984, a strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers against Eagle Foods Stores created a bitter labor atmosphere. In 1985, after only four years of operation, the Westville distribution center closed. In November 1987, Lucky Stores sold majority ownership of Eagle Food Stores to New York-based Odyssey Partners. Odyssey provided a monetary transfusion which allowed Eagle to expand old stores and add new ones. In December 1987, Eagle filed a building permit for a $1.2 million expansion of its Avenue of the Cities store in Moline, ballooning the store by 13,000 square feet (1,200 m²). In 1988, New stores opened in Galesburg and the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. In August 1988, Eagle announced construction of a $2.5 million, 42,600-square-foot (3,960 m²) grocery store in East Moline to replace an aging, 27,700-square-foot (2,570 m²) store at 1313 42nd Ave.

In November 1988, Eagle applied for a building permit to allow a $1.2 million, 23,800-square-foot (2,210 m²) expansion to the Milan warehouse, and also announced a $1 million expansion of the Geneseo store, expanding the building from 19,000 to 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²). In August 1989, Eagle became a publicly owned corporation.

In June 1990, Eagle Food Centers elected its first board of directors at the company's first annual stockholders' meeting at the Milan Community Center. In May 1992, Pasquale "Pat" Petitti, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Eagle Food Centers, Inc., retired after 35 years with the company. In December 1999, Eagle sold five of its Chicago-area stores, leaving 90 stores in Illinois, Iowa and Indiana. Eagle stock price dipped to $2.03, down from a 52-week high of $4.25, and the company reported a net loss of $1.5 million.