Recently, one of the faithful readers of the blog mentioned to me that the Jewel in Scharrington Square–and the shopping center itself–will be 25 years old as of January 26, 2014! Amazing, isn’t it? This is especially true when many remember with much fondness, Jewel’s prior location at the Weathersfield Commons Shopping Center at Schaumburg and Springinsguth Roads.
Jewel, however, didn’t come to Schaumburg as soon as the first houses started going up. It took a few years. In fact, the village was seven years old when Jewel opened its doors as the anchor of Weathersfield Commons.
The first area Jewel location in Hoffman Plaza on Roselle Road was already in business but Schaumburg lobbied for its own store and their request was answered when their very own Jewel opened in June of 1963. This first store was in the longer, east branch of the Weathersfield Commons Shopping Center—where the True Value was for many years. The official address was 29 Springinsguth Road. It was a much needed grocery store for the Campanelli/Weathersfield home owners and helped to anchor the shopping center. 
The original store lasted in this spot for eight years. Jewel then opened another new 32,389-square-foot facility in the same shopping center in 1971 where India House is today. Its address was 91 Weathersfield Commons. This is the Jewel that many remember because it was there for eighteen years. [The 1971 date is, unfortunately, somewhat undetermined. Former manager Jack Galivan, of both the Weathersfield Commons store and the Scharrington Square store, felt that the date was 1971. The 1998 Community Profile of the Village of Schaumburg supports this date in Table 29 of Major Retail Developments where it states that Weathersfield Commons was completed in 1971. A call to Jewel’s headquarters was inconclusive as the data they have is limited for that time period.]
The change happened in 1986 when the McNaught-Odlum Farm at the intersection of Schaumburg and Barrington Roads sold. Development of the four corners of the intersection began to see a busy uptick. The retail real estate investment firm of Dalan/Jupiter Inc. announced plans in 1988 for the building of a new 240,000-square-foot shopping center they called Scharrington Square.
Obviously named for the two roads, the plans involved two new anchors. Builder’s Square would occupy 80,000 square feet and Jewel/Osco would occupy 65,000. Jewel opened January 25, 1989. The Builder’s Square opened the same year and lasted until early March of 1995 when the company began closing its stores. That spot has now seen a few stores come and go. Jewel on the other hand, well, it’s still there 25 years later. Happy Birthday Jewel and Scharrington Square!
If you can name any of the stores that took the place of Builder’s Square, please send in your comments!
This blog posting was written with the assistance of a May 22, 1988 brief, a June 13, 1963 ariticle, an April 19, 1972 caption and a January 31, 1989 article from the Daily Herald. The top photo is used, courtesy of Wikimapia.
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org
History of Schaumburg Township 
The first store In the former Builder’s Square location was Hobby Lobby. After Hobby Lobby moved to a new location on Golf Road, the building was subdivided and Bally’s Fitness took the west portion. Eventually, the east portion was turned into the present Ulta store and Ross. Ironically, just as Bally’s was vacating the west portion!
The “second” Jewel at Weathersfield Commons opened in November of 1970 and closed January of 1989. It was there 19 years and its hard to believe the Scharrington Square location has been open longer! How many of us remember with much fondness “Mr. G” — Jack Galivan who was manager of the Weathersfield Commons store for many years and opened the doors for the grand opening at Scharrington Square.
Interestingly, there was a covenant in place at the old Jewel that prohibited any future grocery establishment for 25 years. Jewel did this practice at several locations including Wood Dale and Elk Grove. If there’s anything missing from the retail hub at Schaumburg & Springinsguth, it’s most certainly a small grocer….
Hello Dan,
Thank you for your comments and interesting details! Whatever the readers can provide is always helpful and insightful. I do have a question though…
I have updated some of the dates and details in the blog posting but, after some searching, have not been able to determine that the second Weathersfield Commons Jewel opened in 1970. I found articles in the Daily Herald that mentioned the grand opening of the True Value on July 20, 1972. I also found a caption for a picture from the April 19, 1972 paper that says, “The troop will be taking orders for laboratory clusters and for lady bug eggs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the new Jewel store in Weathersfield Commons.” There is also a January 31, 1989 article written shortly after the opening of the Scharrington Square Jewel that says “Jewel had operated a 32,389-square-foot store in Weathersfield Plaza Shopping Center since 1972 and prior to that occupied what now is a True Value hardware store in the shopping center.” With these numerous 1972 mentions, I’m inclined to think that is the correct year. Do you have anything that says otherwise?
Let me know and I’ll be happy to update it!
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
Hi Jane- I am basing the 1970 opening date on a conversation I had with “Mr G” many years ago in my quest to find photographs of the 2nd Weathersfield Commons store.
I also believe there was a list put out by the Village of Schaumburg that listed shopping center information showing Weathersfield Commons opened in 1962 and was expanded in 1970.
I remember the original Jewel. My mother used to drive to the Roselle Jewel instead even though we lived in Weathersfield. I’m not sure if it was because we drove Grandpa to the train station in Roselle (no Schaumburg station in late 60’s/early 70’s) or if it was because a fellow dog breeders dogs were stolen from her car in the Schaumburg Jewel parking lot about 1967.