Fay's Drug was a chain of drug stores that was founded in 1958 in

Fairmount, New York Fairmount is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Onondaga County, New York, United States. Fairmount is a western suburb of Syracuse, located in the far southeastern corner of the town of Camillus. Its zip code is 13219 (Syracuse). It is ...

. 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.

History

Beginning

In 1958, the first Fay's Drug Store was opened in

by Henry A. Panasci, Jr. and his father Henry Panasci Sr. The store was named after Faye Panasci, wife of Henry Panasci, Jr. Fay's steadily grew in Central

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

—the resulting Fay's Drugs Company, Inc. was incorporated on October 20, 1966 and Fay's Drugs opened its headquarters in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

with the bulk of its operations residing in Liverpool, New York. At its peak there were over 300 stores operating in New York and Northeast Pennsylvania. Fay's enjoyed #1 market share in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

Acquisitions

In 1979 Fay's acquired the Key Drug store chain in Rochester, NY and converted them to Fay's; further expanding their Rochester area market. In 1991, Fay's Drugs acquired the 48 drug stores operated by Victory Markets as Carls Drugs. Carls Drugs was founded by Carl Panasci, brother and uncle to the Fay's Drugs founders.

Divestures

In the mid-1990s, Fay's Drugs decide to divest itself of its non-core subsidiaries. The company closed nine under-performing stores in its Paper Cutter subsidiary in April 1993. In 1996, the company sold its remaining 29 Paper Cutter stores to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

-based Party Experience Inc., a chain of party- and holiday-oriented supply stores, which converted the Paper Cutter stores to the Party Experience format the following year. In December 1995, the company sold its

Wheels Discount Auto Supply Western Auto Supply Company—known more widely as Western Auto—was a specialty retail chain of stores that supplied automobile parts and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States. It was started in ...

subsidiary with its 82 auto parts stores in New York and Pennsylvania to the Sears-owned Western Auto Supply for $37 million.Alternate Link
via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

JCPenney

In 1996, Fay's Drugs was sold to

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

for $285 million in stock. JCPenney merged its drug operations into Eckerd in 1997. Many of the original Fay's Drugs locations that have not been closed in favor of stand-alone Eckerd stores (many now Rite Aid and Walgreens locations) still feature the familiar Fay's aisle and pharmacy formats that served as models for drug chains nationwide.

References

External links

UB to Award Posthumous Degree to Henry A. Panasci
* ttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_/ai_11160594 Paper Cutter - Hard Lines - company profile {{Rite Aid Rite Aid Defunct pharmacies of the United States Defunct companies based in Syracuse, New York American companies established in 1958 Retail companies established in 1958 Retail companies disestablished in 1997 Defunct companies based in New York (state) 1958 establishments in New York (state) 1997 disestablishments in New York (state) Health care companies based in New York (state)