Cunningham Drug was a

drugstore A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacis ...

chain based in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Founded in October 1889 by Andrew Cunningham, the chain operated primarily within the state of Michigan, and was once the largest drugstore chain in the state. Its Michigan locations were closed and reopened in 1982 as Apex Drug, and were later sold to

Perry Drug Stores 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 W ...

. The last stores remained open in Florida until 1991, when they were sold to

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

History

Andrew Cunningham opened the first Cunningham drug store in

in October 1889. In 1931, the 50-store Economical Drug chain, also based in Detroit, consolidated with Cunningham, which at the time had thirteen stores. Economical Drug owner Nate Shapero also assumed control of the Cunningham chain. Cunningham announced a merger with Marshall Drug Co. of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio in 1940. Between 1958 and 1959, the chain announced mergers with two other chains: Broward Drug of

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

and Kinsel Drug Co., also of Detroit. Following the merger, Cunningham became the largest drugstore chain in Michigan, and had locations in several other states. An effort was made by the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

to dissolve the Kinsel merger, citing that it was in violation of the

Clayton Antitrust Act The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...

. The dissolution was canceled in 1963. An acquisition of Whelan Drug in Florida added fourteen more Cunningham locations to that state in 1964. The chain later sold 28 Florida stores to

Gray Drug Gray Drug was an American drugstore chain in Cleveland, Ohio. The chain began in 1912 and grew to 46 stores by 1946 and over 100 by the 1970s. Besides Ohio, stores later opened in Florida and Maryland. The chain later acquired Alexandria, Virginia ...

of Ohio. Cunningham's also had some small drug stores branded as Schettler's in major hotels, such as the Sheraton-Cadillac in Detroit, and at high-end retail, such as at Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan. In the 1960s, a small number of Cunningham's were re-branded as Dot Discount, an experiment which did not expand further, but which lasted a couple decades, some years after all Cunningham's had closed in the Detroit area. The chain sold off twenty-eight of its Michigan stores in 1982 to a private company, which re-branded them as Apex Drug. Three years later, most of the Apex locations were sold to

, another chain based in the Detroit metropolitan area. The remaining Cunningham stores were gradually sold off or shuttered; by late 1991, the last five in operation, all in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, were sold to

References

{{Walgreens Boots Alliance Rite Aid Retail companies disestablished in 1982 Retail companies established in 1889 Defunct pharmacies of the United States Defunct companies based in Detroit 1889 establishments in Michigan Health care companies based in Michigan 1982 disestablishments in Michigan Walgreens Boots Alliance