Perry Drug Stores was an American retail

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 founded in 1957 in the city of

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

, United States. At its peak in the 1980s, Perry operated more than 200 drug stores, primarily in the state of

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 ...

, 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 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. The company ranked No. 148 in the Fortune 500 lis ...

, a pharmacy chain based in

Camp Hill, Pennsylvania Camp Hill is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. It is southwest of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. The population was 7,888 at the 2010 census. There are many large corporations bas ...

. 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.

History

Founder Jack A. Robinson opened his first Perry Drug Store in 1957 on Perry Street in

. Over time, the chain expanded to become a prominent drugstore in the Detroit area, competing with local chains such as Arbor Drugs and Cunningham Drug. In 1978, a prototype Perry store was opened, featuring an expanded sporting goods line, a home and automotive center, and live pets for sale. Auto Works, an automotive parts retail chain, was introduced in 1982. Twenty-six Cunningham Drug locations were spun off by the chain's owner into a new chain called Apex Drug. By 1985, the Apex Drug locations and several other Cunningham locations were acquired by Perry, while the Cunningham locations in Florida remained in operation. In 1981, Perry Drug expanded into the

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

market for the first time. (The chain had previously tried to enter Chicago through a failed acquisition of DeKoven Drugs.) A year later, these stores were sold to businessmen Fred Barney and Bill Cartwright, two veteran businessmen who formed the Chicago operations into Perry Drug Chicago. Several units in Michigan were acquired in 1990 from

Revco Revco Discount Drug Stores (known simply as Revco or Revco, D.S.), 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 w ...

. This acquisition made Perry the dominant drugstore chain in the

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 ...

area and expanded Perry's presence to the

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

for the first time.

1990s: Sale to Rite Aid

Perry Drug Stores posted a brief period of sharp declines in sales in 1990, with locations in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

being sold off. By 1993, the Perry Drug Chicago locations were re-acquired and liquidated. After its out-of-state operations were sold, Perry continued to expand its presence within

. Many locations were remodeled to the chain's "store of the '90s" format; in addition, an online computer system called PerryLink was implemented at all stores, allowing for customers to have their prescriptions filled at any location.

, a drugstore chain based in

, acquired twenty-five locations from

Hook's Drug Stores Hook's Drug Stores was an Indianapolis, Indiana-based drug store chain which was founded in 1900 by John A. Hook. The chain flourished throughout central Indiana for most of the 20th-century. Hook's did business under its own banner, the SupeRX D ...

in 1994, subsequently selling nine of the locations to Perry. One year later, Rite Aid acquired all 224 of Perry Drug Stores' locations, including the former Hook's Drugs locations. The acquisition of Perry Drug Stores in 1995 was the largest acquisition made by Rite Aid. It also brought Rite Aid to the Detroit area, where it previously had no stores.

Other operations

In addition to the drugstore chain, Perry owned two other specialty chains: Auto Works and A.L. Price. Auto Works was an automotive store which comprised more than 200 locations at its peak. This chain was sold off in 1988 to Northern Automotive (now known as

CSK Auto CSK Auto, Inc. was a specialty retailer of automotive parts and accessories in the western United States. CSK Auto became a publicly traded company in March 1998, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew through a combination of acquisitions ...

). A.L Price was a deep-discount health and beauty aids retailer with fourteen locations in the Detroit area. In 1990, Perry Drug Stores sold off all fourteen A. L. Price locations, as part of a decision to focus entirely on the drugstore chain itself; three years later, eleven of these stores were re-acquired by Perry.

References

{{Rite Aid Rite Aid Retail companies disestablished in 1995 Companies based in Oakland County, Michigan Retail companies established in 1957 Defunct pharmacies of the United States Defunct companies based in Michigan Pontiac, Michigan 1957 establishments in Michigan 1995 disestablishments in Michigan Health care companies based in Michigan 1995 mergers and acquisitions