Cunningham Drug Stores Ltd. (Cunningham's for short) was a regional

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

chain based in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada.

History

Cunningham's was established in February 1911 when

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

native George Cunningham, a druggist formerly employed by the Woodwards

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain, opened his first store in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, at the corner of Denman and Nelson Streets. Cunningham expanded his chain in September 1939 when he acquired the Vancouver Drug Stores chain, nearly tripling the size of the Cunningham's chain from 12 stores to 35. At its peak, 100 drug stores in British Columbia and Alberta bore the Cunningham's name. Cunningham was a Vancouver city councilor from 1955 to 1957 and served as chair of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Board of Governors. Cunningham died in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

on March 7, 1965, at age 76, and the drug store chain bearing his name was sold to the expanding

Shoppers Drug Mart Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. (named Pharmaprix in Quebec) is a Canadian retail pharmacy chain based in Toronto, Ontario. It has more than 1,300 stores in nine provinces and two territories. The company was founded by pharmacist Murray Koffler in 1962 ...

on September 26, 1971.Shoppers Drug Mart Major Company Milestones
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References

{{reflist Canadian pharmacy brands Retail companies established in 1911 Defunct retail companies of Canada Retail companies disestablished in 1971 1911 establishments in British Columbia 1971 disestablishments in British Columbia Canadian companies disestablished in 1971 Canadian companies established in 1911