Rite Aid, Walgreens and Longs

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storeliker
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Rite Aid, Walgreens and Longs

Post by storeliker »

Anyone know the history or time lines of these stores? Rite Aid seems to be in alot of places but are Walgreens and Longs California based? Which ones took over old Payless Drugs and Pay N Save?
The only ones that lasted through them all , although few and far between is Rexall where I have seen a few locations where it looks like they have been there forever.
Anyway if anyone has info on these three chains it would be helpful. I also dont quite understand the Walgreens emblem.
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storewanderer
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Post by storewanderer »

Longs is California based. They have grown mainly organically. Strongholds are NorCal and Hawaii. Presence in other markets including NV, CO, WA, and OR is poor. They exited Arizona and Alaska in the 90's. Later in the 90's, they expanded into Oregon and Washington by purchasing the Drug Emporium franchisee up there (just 20 stores). Not sure how or why they are in Colorado, but they no longer do any business in Denver. Longs did buy some Sav-On Stores in NorCal about 20 years ago.

Rite Aid is based in PA. They've bought out dozens of other chains, and run mainly very small stores on the east coast, of under 8,000 square feet. They have not been around as long as many of the companies they bought, getting their start in the 60's or 70's, while buying chains like Thrifty (founded in 1929) and Payless (founded in 1939).

Payless was quite the animal itself during the 80's and 90's. They purchased Osco Stores in WA, ID, UT, and WY. They also purchased Pay N Save (from Thrifty) in WA, AK, and HI. Meanwhile, they grew their store base in core markets like OR and CA during that period quite strongly as well. Payless was owned by Kmart at that point. Yes, Kmart.

As Payless was growing in the early 90's, Thrifty was contracting. They sold off a couple sporting goods chains, and also sold Pay N Save. They removed the Thrifty brand from AZ, NM, and NV; stores were closed or sold to Osco (Sav-On).

When Thrifty and Payless joined (actually the investment group that had purchased Thrifty in 1992 purchased Payless in 1994 from Kmart) in 1994, the only pieces of Thrifty that were left were the CA Thrifty Stores, Thrifty Ice Cream Plant (probably the product that was keeping the CA Stores in business at that time), Big 5 Sporting Goods, and Bi-Mart in the pacific Northwest. Big 5 was split from TPI, and has since gone public. Bi-Mart was retained by TPI as an independently operating subsidiary and was sold by Rite Aid to some investors, who have in turn I think ended up selling the chain to employees within the past year or so (don't quote me on this).

http://www.bimart.com
rrr

Post by rrr »

Walgreen's HQ is just north of Chicago, where they started. Their website has a pretty good history, focussing on the early days. As I recollect, one of their major expansions came thru buying a lot of the Midwest Rexall drugs in the late 70's.
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Post by todd »

r wrote:Walgreen's HQ is just north of Chicago, where they started. Their website has a pretty good history, focussing on the early days. As I recollect, one of their major expansions came thru buying a lot of the Midwest Rexall drugs in the late 70's.
Wasn't Rexall a chain that partnered with people (independents) like the IGA grocery stores? I remember the Rexall name as a kid, but there was always other names attached to it.
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Dave
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Re: Rite Aid, Walgreens and Longs

Post by Dave »

storeliker wrote:... I also dont quite understand the Walgreens emblem.
You mean the thing to the left of "Walgreens"? That's a stylized mortar and pestle, used to crush things into powder and mix them together. It's an old pharmacy symbol - I've seen it in several logos.
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Post by Groceteria »

todd wrote:
r wrote:Wasn't Rexall a chain that partnered with people (independents) like the IGA grocery stores? I remember the Rexall name as a kid, but there was always other names attached to it.
Actually, I believe Walgreens had a similar franchise-type agreement in some markets. I think they acted more as a distributor, so you had someone's "Walgreen Agency" drug, as signs in some small NC towns read...
rrr

Post by rrr »

Yes, I believe that's true about Rexall being like IGA. All of them that I recall were So-and-So's Rexall, for example the Rennebohm's Rexall chain in Madison, WI. So, further digging might uncover the exact circumstances of their becoming Walgreens. I do believe most of them became Walgreens-owned stores, with a few remaining independent or small chain non-Walgreens.
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Post by Dave »

r wrote:Yes, I believe that's true about Rexall being like IGA. All of them that I recall were So-and-So's Rexall, for example the Rennebohm's Rexall chain in Madison, WI. So, further digging might uncover the exact circumstances of their becoming Walgreens. I do believe most of them became Walgreens-owned stores, with a few remaining independent or small chain non-Walgreens.
There's info on Wikipedia that might be of interest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rexall
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Post by terryinokc »

There were Walgreen Agency drug stores here in Oklahoma. I guess they were kind of like franchises or something. They were locally owned, but did carry some of the Walgreen private label items. Mostly smaller stores in smaller towns.

Longs still has (as of last summer) several stores in Colorado Springs.

Rite Aid purchased all the K&B Drug stores in Louisiana. K&B had been a New Orleans legacy for many years--everyone loved them and their purple signs, store fronts and even delivery trucks. Many people were disappointed when they sold out to Rite Aid.
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Post by Super S »

"Bi-Mart was retained by TPI as an independently operating subsidiary and was sold by Rite Aid to some investors, who have in turn I think ended up selling the chain to employees within the past year or so (don't quote me on this). "

This is correct, Bi-Mart mentions that fact quite often in their advertising.
rrr

Post by rrr »

For more of the Rexall story, check this link which, thanks Dave, appeared at the end of the Wikipedia article: http://www.mlmwatch.org/04C/RSI/rsi01.html

It makes reference to a March 1, 1982 Business Week story that states that Rexall once had 300 company-owned stores and 12,000 franchised stores but it all ended in 1977. Existing franchises had the option of keeping the name even tho the company didn't exist as it had.

I could almost swear that I had seen an operating Rexall drug store driving thru some small town in the past year or so. And sure enough, checking Yellowpages.com turns up over 200, spread all over the country.
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Post by danielh_512 »

Rite Aid started much like CVS, in the 1960's, as a discount HBA store. Rite Aid started in Scranton, PA, CVS in Woonsocket, RI. I forget at this moment how the Rite Aid name was adopted, but the store in Scranton was not called Rite Aid. Their HQ eventually got moved to Camp Hill, PA, a suburb of Harrisburg on the west shore of the Susquehanna River.

Rite Aid came to Western Maryland very early in their chain, in the early 70's, buying a chain based here called Stripe Discount. Most of Rite Aid's stores in the Mid-Atlantic though came from Drug Fair, a chain that was owned by Gray Drug, who provided Rite Aid its stores in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. They purchased Perry Drug to obtain their Michigan stores. Of course, as most of you know, they then acquired Thrifty/Payless and created a company of the coasts, with major gaps in the middle (as well as the Southeast).

What you know of a Rite Aid in California is nothing like the Rite Aid of Maryland. No Thrifty Ice Cream here. Most stores that have not been replaced remain in their 80's timewarp, of white walls with red, blue, green and orange stripes going diagonally, with chrome accents on the back wall for the pharmacy (Rite Aid didn't have pharmacies until purchasing Drug Fair, just like CVS didn't really until buying Peoples in 1990). The stores are very small and dated, the local Rite Aid doesn't sell bread, milk, or anything that many drug stores carry today. The merchandise is confined to HBA, cosmetics, a GNC section in some stores, stationery, toys, small food selection.

Something as a sidenote: Rite Aid didn't sell Coke for many years, and made a big deal around here when it returned about 2000-2001, I think. Rite Aid hit some rough times, their CEO landed in jail, and stores were sold off (some to competitor CVS), and others were closed. Interestingly, the newer stores were dumped almost more than the older ones. Even in their home area of Harrisburg, CVS is far stronger, inheriting Peoples storebase, as well as later on, former Revcos.

Rite Aid has started expanding again, and finally created a new store concept. It's different, and much better than their previous offering, opening just a few weeks ago in the town to the west of me. I should take some pictures sometime of the outside, I believe storewanderer has some of the interiors if you're interested.
rrr

Post by rrr »

Is your new RiteAid sort of a cubist building, exterior of giant concrete squares with a kind of clipped-corner greenhouse as the entrance? Be interesting to see your photos.
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Post by Dave »

r wrote:Is your new RiteAid sort of a cubist building, exterior of giant concrete squares with a kind of clipped-corner greenhouse as the entrance? Be interesting to see your photos.
That sounds a lot like the last new Revcos that were taken over by CVS. The new Rite Aid near here that was opened less than a year ago was a remodel of an existing store, so it doesn't have a greenhouse.
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Post by rich »

Many Rexall's were chains, including some that were local co-ops. Gray, Marshall (Cunningham), and the Leader co-op operated as Rexall drug stores at various times in Cleveland. I think Gray & Marshall exited Rexall in the 60s, while Leader stayed much longer.

Perhaps, Walgreen bought some chains that had been affiliated with Rexall, although they have tended not be a big buyer of chains in recent years. Their last significant chain acquisition was Stop & Shop's MediMart, which would have been a cheap way to develop a beachhead in New England. Walgreen bought a lot of smaller, in town National super markets when that chain exited Chicago in the mid-70s--many still operate as Walgreen's, like the one at Diversey near Halsted.
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