 | |
| Industry | Pharmacy |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1924 |
| Defunct | Sold: 1998 Brand retired: 2003 |
| Fate | Acquired by Eckerd |
| Headquarters | Melville, New York |
| Products | Pharmacy, Cosmetics, Health and Beauty Aids, General Merchandise, Snacks |
Genovese Drug Stores was a pharmacy chain with stores in New York City, Long Island, northern New Jersey, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Hartford County, Connecticut. It was acquired by JCPenney in 1998 and merged with its Eckerd Corporation subsidiary.
Genovese Drug Stores was founded in 1924 by Joseph Genovese in Astoria, Queens. [1] In 1955, Joseph W. Genovese Jr., the son of the founder and the chairman of the board, introduced self‐service in the chain. [2]
Joseph Jr. died in December 1975 at the age of 46 after undergoing surgery. [2] His father died in November 1978 at the age of 75. [3] His second son, Leonard Genovese, replaced him as chairman. [4] [5]
By 1978, the chain had 50 locations with headquarters in Melville, New York. [3] [6] In the early 1980s, some locations added arcade video games as an alternative source of revenue. [7] Genovese also operated Genrex, a nursing home division during this time. [8] [9] The company opened its first Manhattan location in 1993. [10] That year, it also opened its 100th store. [11]
In January 1998, the company closed 5 stores and cut 11% of its workforce due to declining profitability. [12]
In November 1998, the chain was acquired by JC Penney, the parent company of Eckerd, for $432 million in stock and the assumption of $60 million in debt. At that time, the chain was headquartered in Melville, New York and had 141 stores with 5,000 employees. [1] It was still almost entirely owned by the Genovese family. [5]
Following the acquisition, the new owners planned to convert all Genovese locations to the Eckerd name within a year. However, the chain ultimately remained. By 2003, all Genovese stores were remodeled and rebranded as Eckerd. [13]
Three years later, Eckerd was in turn purchased by Rite Aid and all locations were rebranded. [14] In 2023, Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [15] Despite shutting down 20 years prior, Genovese Drug Stores was still listed in the filing. [16]
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is an American department store chain that operates 659 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Men's, Women's, Boys', Girls', Baby, Bedding, Home, Fine Jewelry, Shoes, Lingerie, JCPenney Salon, JCPenney Beauty, as well as leased departments such as Seattle's Best Coffee, US Vision optical centers, and Lifetouch portrait studios.
The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Varennes, Quebec. It has more than 400 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique, and PJC Santé banners. The company was once the third largest distributor and retailer of pharmaceuticals and related products in North America, with nearly 2,200 drug stores. Its American stores have been sold to Rite Aid.
CVS Pharmacy, Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health, it is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Originally named the Consumer Value Stores, it was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1963.
Jack Eckerd was an American businessman and the second generation owner of Eckerd chain of drugstores.
Eckerd Corporation was an American pharmacy retail chain that was headquartered in Largo, Florida, and toward the end of its life, in Warwick, Rhode Island. At its peak, Eckerd was the second-largest pharmacy chain in the United States, with approximately 2,802 stores in 23 states as far west as Arizona.
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Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. It is the third-largest drugstore chain in the United States, with nearly 1,400 stores in 16 U.S. states, primarily on the East and West coasts.
Revco Discount Drug Stores, once based in Twinsburg, Ohio, was a major drug store chain operating through the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Southeastern United States. The chain's stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RXR. Revco was sold to CVS Pharmacy for $2.8 billion in February 1997. When it was sold, the chain had over 2,500 stores.
Grand Union Supermarkets, later known as Grand Union Family Markets and often referred to simply as Grand Union, is an American chain of grocery stores that does business in upstate New York and Vermont, and used to do business throughout most of the northeastern United States. It operated stores in other areas of the country, including the midwestern and southeastern states, and internationally in the Caribbean and Canada. The company was founded and headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in the early 20th century. Grand Union moved again to Elmwood Park, New Jersey, and finally to Wayne, New Jersey, before the company was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001 and sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers.
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.
Treasure Island, formerly The Treasury, was a chain of discount stores owned for most of its lifespan by J.C. Penney.
Brooks Pharmacy was a chain of more than 330 pharmacies located throughout New England and New York and was a well-recognized name in the New England pharmacy industry for several decades. The corporate headquarters were located in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Fay's Drug was a chain of drug stores that was founded in 1958 in Fairmount, New York. At its height, Fay's Drugs operated its core business, along with Wheels Discount Auto and The Paper Cutter Books and Office and Party Supply.
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.
Thrift Drug was a U.S. pharmacy chain founded in 1935 and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Bartell Drug Company, commonly known as Bartell Drugs or "Bartell's", is an American chain of pharmacies in the Puget Sound region of the State of Washington. The company was founded in 1890 in Seattle and grew to primarily serve the surrounding metropolitan area. Bartell was believed to be the nation's oldest existing family-owned drugstore chain until it was sold to Rite Aid in 2020.
Perry Drug Stores was an American retail pharmacy chain founded in 1957 in the city of Pontiac, Michigan, United States. At its peak in the 1980s, Perry operated more than 200 drug stores, primarily in the state of Michigan, as well as 200 Auto Works auto parts stores and fourteen A. L. Price discount health and beauty aids outlets. In 1995, Perry Drug Stores was bought out by Rite Aid, a pharmacy chain based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. The Perry chain, which at the time comprised 224 stores, was the largest acquisition ever made by Rite Aid. In addition, this acquisition brought the Rite Aid name to the Detroit area for the first time.
Kerr Drug was an American chain of 76 drug stores throughout North Carolina. Its headquarters were located in Raleigh, North Carolina. On September 10, 2013, Walgreens announced its purchase of Kerr.