USA Drug was a convenience store and pharmacy chain in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

that operated more than 160 stores in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, Oklahoma,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. It was founded in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...

in 1986. Its headquarters are still located in Pine Bluff with additional offices in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, and

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Its parent company,

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, a ...

, operates Super D Drug Stores and Ikes Deep Discount Drug, both acquired in October 1997, and May's Drug, Med-X Drug, Drug Warehouse, and Drug Mart, all acquired in July 2004, as "Part of the USA Drug Family".

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and

CVS/Pharmacy CVS Pharmacy, Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health, it is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was also known as, and originally named, the Consumer Value Store and was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts, in ...

are two of its primary

competitor Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

s. The company's slogan is "America's Low Price Drug Store". Steve LaFrance stepped down as CEO on October 20, 2006 and named Joe Courtright CEO of the company. Courtright was named president of the company in September and was vice president of pharmacy for Region 2 previous to that. LaFrance maintained a presence with the company as chairman. On July 5, 2012, Walgreens announced the acquisition of USA Drug. In September 2012, Walgreens announced that they will be closing 76 USA Drug affiliated stores by November. Walgreens took ownership on September 15, 2012. Steve Lee LaFrance SR. was born in 1941 in New Orleans and earned a bachelor of science in pharmacy degree at Northeast Louisiana State College of Monroe. After graduation, LaFrance took a pharmacist position at the Medic Pharmacy in Shreveport. Four years later, LaFrance worked 12 hours, six days a week, in Pine Bluff. He built Gibson’s pharmacy into a thriving business. Later he got the opportunity to buy another pharmacy just down the street but could not come up with the funds. After being turned down by several banks for loans, he finally secured the five thousand he needed to start the business. He expanded the stores to where by 2012 he had more than 150 stores. LaFrance also started SAJ Distributors in the 1970s. SAJ allowed him to buy directly from vendors so he could sell at a better margin. SAJ grew to be the provider of more than 22,000 health, beauty and general merchandise products to over 1000 grocery, drug and discount stores. USAstore

Upon making 26 dollars on opening day in 1968 at the first USA Drug in Pine Bluff, that profit went a lot further than LaFrance had ever dreamed possible. From the modest upbringing and start, LaFrance built the USA Drug chain into the largest privately owned pharmacy chain in the United States. USA Drug covered nine different states, with 150 different locations in 825 million dollars in annual sales, and supported more than 3500 employees and their families. In 2012, shortly before LaFrance passed, Walgreens acquired USA Drug for more than 550 million dollars, all from a 26 dollar opening day.

External links

www.usadrug.com
- official site

from

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References

{{Walgreens Boots Alliance Defunct pharmacies of the United States Defunct companies based in Arkansas Health care companies based in Arkansas Economy of the Southeastern United States American companies established in 1984 Retail companies established in 1984 Retail companies disestablished in 2012 1984 establishments in Arkansas 2012 disestablishments in Arkansas 2012 mergers and acquisitions Walgreens Boots Alliance