Vons, which is today one of the major supermarket chains in southern California and the Las Vegas area, began in 1906 as one store in downtown Los Angeles, owned by Charles Von der Ahe. It was one of the first grocery stores to sell items on a cash and carry basis, rather than billing customers periodically.
The one store grew to dozens and then hundreds, the company went out of and back into Von der Ahe family ownership, and at some point, the apostrophe disappeared. Vons also created a separate, more upscale chain called Pavilions, which promotes service while the regular Vons stores stick with the "Vons Is Value" slogan. However, in practice, the same items tend to be on sale for the same price at the same time in both stores.
In the 1970s, Safeway pulled out of the southern California market and sold many of their stores to Vons. Almost 30 years later, in the late 1990s, Safeway ended up taking over the Vons company. Although the stores still operate under the Vons name, the Safeway logo shows up here and there, and Vons now offers Safeway Select products in addition to the Vons store brand.