Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs were the names of a pair of chain pharmacies that operated in the United States. Osco Drug was founded by the Skaggs family. Alpha Beta grocery store was purchased by American Stores in 1961. Skaggs Drug Centers bought American Stores in 1979 and assumed the American Stores name. Sav-on Drugs was a California-based pharmacy chain that was acquired by Osco's parent company in 1980. Both Osco and Sav-on stores eventually came under the ownership of American Stores, then Albertsons, and finally SuperValu before the stores were sold off.
Eckerd Corporation was an American drug store chain that was headquartered in Largo, Florida, and toward the end of its life, in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019.
Bradlees Department Store, more commonly known as Bradlees, was a discount department store chain based in Braintree, Massachusetts, which operated primarily in the Northeastern United States. Bradlees sold various retail items in its stores, including clothing, jewelry, health care, beauty products, footwear, furniture, electronics, housewares, and bedding. At its peak in the 1990s, Bradlees operated over 105 stores in seven states across the Northeast, with close to 10,000 employees. Along with being a part of Stop & Shop from 1961 until 1992, the chain went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000, with all of its stores eventually closed by March 15, 2001.
Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across the United States from 1920 to 1977. The "Rex" in the name was derived from the name of Ellen M. Regis, who developed "Rexall remedies" and from whom the company purchased the mark.
Justin Whitlock Dart Sr. was an American businessman, considered the "boy wonder" of the drug store industry. In college Dart had played football for Northwestern University.
Herbert H. Haft was an American businessman who was famous first for the development of discount stores in the drug store, bookstore, and auto part businesses in Washington, D.C., and later as a corporate raider.
The Skaggs Family, starting from a small frontier town in southern Idaho, came to have an important impact on merchandising across much of the United States. During most of the 20th century, the Skaggs name was prominent on hundreds of stores throughout the West and Midwest.
Skaggs Companies was the predecessor to many famous United States retailing chains, including Safeway, Albertsons, Osco Drug, and Longs Drugs. The company owned several drugstore chains, but all of them were sold. Skaggs Cos. became American Stores in 1979.
Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the parent company of Thrifty Corporation and Thrifty Drug Stores, Inc., acquired the Kmart subsidiary PayLess Drug Stores Northwest, Inc. At the time of the merger, TCH Corporation was renamed Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. and Thrifty operated 495 stores, PayLess operated 543 stores.
Trak Auto Corporation was an American retail chain specializing in automotive parts and accessories based in Landover, Maryland. Founded by Robert Haft in 1979, at its peak in 1993 it operated 333 stores around the United States under the Trak Auto, Super Trak, and Super Trak Warehouse concepts. A declining market, stiff competition, and management problems led to a steep decline and bankruptcy, with its remaining stores acquired by and converted to Advance Auto Parts in 2002.
Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, also known as Shoppers Food Warehouse, is a chain of 22 supermarkets located in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas. Shoppers has fresh produce, Swift Angus beef, Smithfield natural pork, all-natural chicken, Dietz & Watson delis, fresh seafood, steamed shrimp, as well as hot food bars.
Peoples Drug was a chain of drugstores based in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1905, Peoples was subsequently purchased by Lane Drug in 1975, Imasco in 1984, and finally by CVS in 1990, which continued to run the stores under the Peoples banner until 1994, at which time the stores were converted to CVS, marking the end of the use of the Peoples Drug name.
Buttrey Food & Drug was a chain of grocery stores founded in Havre, Montana and formerly headquartered in Great Falls, Montana. The company was founded in 1896 as a chain of department stores branded Buttrey Department Store. The company opened grocery stores in 1935 and sold off its department store division following a 1966 acquisition by The Jewel Companies, Inc. Jewel was sold to American Stores in 1984, and later Buttrey was sold off as a separate company in 1990. The company was sold to its main competitor, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, in January 1998 and the Buttrey name was retired. At that time, Buttrey was operating 43 stores in Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota with a revenue of $391.4 million.
Crown Books was a bookseller headquartered in Prince George's County, Maryland, with a Largo post office address. It was founded in the Washington, D.C., metro area by Robert Haft in 1977. Crown Books (retail) is of no relation to Crown Books (publisher), although the former carried inventory from the latter.
Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, and his brother George I. Friedland who opened the first store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the late 1920s. As of 1957, Food Fair had 275 stores, and at its peak, the chain had more than 500 stores. Friedland's family retained control of the firm through 1978, when the chain entered bankruptcy.
Robert Michael Haft is an entrepreneur, primarily in health care, and became a household name in the Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles markets for his Crown Books television commercial tagline, "Books cost too much".
The Lane Drug Company of Ohio, was a discount drugstore chain in the United States that was originally based in Toledo, Ohio. On 10 April 1989, the chain was acquired by Rite Aid Corporation of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and currently operates as a division of Rite Aid.
