Eckerd
Encyclopedia
Eckerd Corporation was an American drug store chain that was headquartered in Largo, Florida
, and toward the end of its life, in Warwick, Rhode Island
.
The chain had approximately 2,800 stores in 23 states as far west as Arizona. In 2004 it was the fourth largest drug chain in the U.S. In April 2004, the company (then a subsidiary of J. C. Penney) was broken up in a $4.52 billion deal, with approximately 1269 stores in Florida, Louisiana and Texas, along with Eckerd's $1.3 billion mail order pharmacy, sold to CVS Corporation, now CVS Caremark., The deal enabled CVS to leapfrog past rival Walgreens
with some 5,400 stores. Because CVS already owned 74 stores in Florida at the time, including 19 in the Tampa Bay Area
, many duplicate locations were closed. The remaining stores were sold to the Jean Coutu Group
and merged with its Brooks Pharmacy
chain. The Eckerd name and corporate headquarters, which housed 1,000 administrative workers at the time in Largo, Florida would remain temporarily intact while under the Coutu ownership. The sale erased the chain's name among its 622 Florida stores, where it had been synonymous with the pharmacy business since Jack Eckerd bought three old drugstores in the Tampa Bay area in 1952. Brooks Eckerd
, Jean Coutu's U.S. operations would eventually be sold to Rite Aid
. In return, a stake in Rite Aid was ceded to the French-Canadian company. The remaining Eckerd locations became Rite Aids.
For CVS, Florida's older population is a crucial pharmacy marketplace in its ongoing competition with Walgreens
. After a major building binge in the Sun Belt prior to 2004, Walgreens dislodged Eckerd as Florida's drugstore market share leader a few years prior to that. CVS needed Eckerd's real estate to mount a credible performance quickly.
. In the company's early years, it operated at 1105 State Street in downtown Erie as the Erie Cut-Rate Medicine Store. In 1912, Eckerd and Tatom sold their original store to Eckerd's sons and moved to Wilmington, Delaware
, establishing a new store. From Delaware, the chain expanded to North Carolina
and later Florida
.
Jack Eckerd
, son of the founder, was responsible for the expansion of the company when he acquired three stores in Florida
in 1952.
In 1961, Eckerd changed from a proprietorship to a publicly owned company
. At the height of Eckerd's success, it had over 2,800 stores in more than 20 states, including 1,600 stores with Eckerd Express Photo one-hour photo labs in 19 states, and revenue of $13.1 billion in fiscal year 2000. Eckerd was the dominant drug chain in Florida
, Texas
, and Delaware
.
and Eckerd agreed to merge. Under the agreement, all of JCPenney's Thrift Drug
unit of drug stores (comprising Thrift Drug
, Kerr Drugs, Fay's Drugs
, and some Rite Aid
stores) were rebranded to the larger Eckerd name. This marked Eckerd's re-entry into the Pennsylvania market. Many Thrift Drug stores were remodeled to Eckerd's look, having their light fixtures replaced. In turn, JCPenney Catalog Centers, like Thrift Drug long had, were added to Eckerd stores.
Eckerd was owned by JCPenney from 1997 to 2004, and was one of the largest drug store chains in the U.S., with over 2,800 stores stretching from New York and Connecticut to Florida and west to Arizona. One carryover from the Thrift Drug
days after the merger took over was the presence of JCPenney Catalog Centers inside certain locations, which enabled Eckerd customers to order merchandise from store catalogs and pick it up at an Eckerd location. The sales would end a long, grueling and secretive bid process that has hung over Eckerd for the preceding six months. JCPenney, which had seen its seven-year ownership of Eckerd as a distraction that would cost too much to continue fixing, in March 2004 formally declared that it would carry Eckerd on its books as a discontinued asset. Penney also took a $1.3-billion charge against earnings in connection with selling the drugstore chain that had been accounting for 45 percent of its annual revenues. Penney, which agreed to acquire Eckerd in November 1996 and closed on the deal in 1997, was likely to lose money on its investment. Penney paid $3.3-billion and assumed $1-billion in debt to acquire Eckerd and combine it with its 800-store Thrift Drug chain. But Penney also bought more than 500 more stores from four other chains in New York state, Virginia and the Carolinas to create what for a while was the nation's second-largest drugstore chain.
In 1998, Eckerd acquired the 141-store Genovese
chain in the New York metropolitan area, and renamed the stores in 2003.
In July 2004, JC Penney. sold all of the Eckerd stores along the Eastern Seaboard from Georgia to Connecticut to the Jean Coutu Group
. The other stores, mainly in the Southeastern and Southwestern United States
, were sold to CVS
. The other Eckerd stores that were sold to the Jean Coutu Group
were merged with Coutu's other American pharmacy chain, Brooks Pharmacy
. Walgreens, however, did not expect to buy any of the stores CVS or Coutu sold. "We have always grown organically rather than buying somebody else's stores," said Walgreen Co. spokeswoman Carol Hively. Walgreens, which had 4,200 stores in 44 states at the time, had been adding 450 a year and at the time planned to have 7,000 by 2010. While CVS had 696 stores in Florida before closing any duplicates with Eckerd, Walgreens had 613 stores and plans for 748 within three years. Walgreens, however, did not expect to buy any of the stores CVS or Coutu sold. After the sale Eckerd continued to accept JCPenney charge cards and operate the Catalog Centers in certain locations.
CVS Corporation (now CVS Caremark Corporation) bought more than 1,200 Eckerd stores and converted most of them to CVS/pharmacy in late 2004 and 2005, eliminating the Eckerd name from markets such as Florida
, Texas
, Oklahoma
, Louisiana
, and Mississippi
, which had once been among the chain's strongholds. Even a few brand-new locations in Texas
and Arizona
were transformed into CVS almost as quickly as they were built as Eckerd stores. The CVS purchase also included the Eckerd stores located in Colorado
; however, CVS opted to close these stores.
Jean Coutu
kept the remainder of the stores, mostly in the Northeast
and Mid-Atlantic U.S. states
. Jean Coutu operated the stores it purchased under the slightly modified "Eckerd Pharmacy" name.
Eckerd was a unit of the Quebec
-based Jean Coutu Group
. The corporate headquarters was transferred from Florida
to Rhode Island
, the base of Jean Coutu's other U.S. chain, Brooks Pharmacy
. The Eckerd and Brooks chains shared many of the same corporate functions. In addition, the Jean Coutu Group introduced an alternate version of the Eckerd Pharmacy logo featuring a red Eckerd capsule in an attempt to unify the Eckerd and Brooks chains.
On August 23, 2006, the Wall Street Journal reported that Rite Aid
would acquire 1,858 Eckerd Pharmacy and Brooks Pharmacy
US stores from the Jean Coutu
Group for US$3.4 billion. Rite Aid announced that the two chains would be converted to the Rite Aid name, retiring the 109-year-old Eckerd banner. The merger was signed and completed as of June 4, 2007, with all remaining Eckerd stores converted to Rite Aid by the end of September 2007.
The conversion process consisted of two steps: new computer systems, and a full PPR (paint, powder, re-set) which consisted of new signage and a new design scheme. Many of the stores received new paint on their exteriors, making them look more like brick than the white stucco design of most Eckerd locations. Eckerd's remaining JCPenney Catalog Centers were closed in favor of Rite Aid choosing to accept JCPenney charge cards chainwide.
The deal has also left Rite Aid with interesting locations within close proximity to each other to the point of competing with each other. (Only a small handful of stores have closed or were sold off to Walgreens
, The Medicine Shoppe, or independent owners in order to meet federal regulations.) CVS
went through a similar situation in the Chicago area after its purchase of Albertson's drug store chains. As a result, there are several cases where the stores are only a few blocks from each other, or even right next door to each other. This is particularly the case in Pennsylvania
where Rite Aid (due to being based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
, near the state capital of Harrisburg
) and Eckerd (due to its Pennsylvania
roots in Erie
as well as stores that were once Thrift Drug
having roots in the Pittsburgh area) were both dominant in the state.
, the son of the founder of the drug store chain, made a large donation to Florida Presbyterian College in St. Petersburg, Florida
, in 1971, after which it was renamed in his honor as (Eckerd College
).
Largo, Florida
Largo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, USA and is part of the Tampa Bay Area. Centrally located, it is the crossroads of the county. As of the 2000 census, the City had a total population of 69,371. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was...
, and toward the end of its life, in Warwick, Rhode Island
Warwick, Rhode Island
Warwick is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. It is the second largest city in the state, with a population of 82,672 at the 2010 census. Its mayor has been Scott Avedisian since 2000...
.
The chain had approximately 2,800 stores in 23 states as far west as Arizona. In 2004 it was the fourth largest drug chain in the U.S. In April 2004, the company (then a subsidiary of J. C. Penney) was broken up in a $4.52 billion deal, with approximately 1269 stores in Florida, Louisiana and Texas, along with Eckerd's $1.3 billion mail order pharmacy, sold to CVS Corporation, now CVS Caremark., The deal enabled CVS to leapfrog past rival Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
with some 5,400 stores. Because CVS already owned 74 stores in Florida at the time, including 19 in the Tampa Bay Area
Tampa Bay Area
The Tampa Bay Area is the region of west central Florida adjacent to Tampa Bay. Definitions of the region vary. It is often considered equivalent to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau currently...
, many duplicate locations were closed. The remaining stores were sold to the Jean Coutu Group
Jean Coutu Group
The Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. It has more than 360 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Santé Beauté banners...
and merged with its Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy was a chain of more than 330 pharmacies located throughout New England and New York and has been a well-recognized name in the New England pharmacy industry for several decades. The corporate headquarters were located in Warwick, Rhode Island...
chain. The Eckerd name and corporate headquarters, which housed 1,000 administrative workers at the time in Largo, Florida would remain temporarily intact while under the Coutu ownership. The sale erased the chain's name among its 622 Florida stores, where it had been synonymous with the pharmacy business since Jack Eckerd bought three old drugstores in the Tampa Bay area in 1952. Brooks Eckerd
Brooks Eckerd
Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy was a chain of approximately 2,000 pharmacies operating in 18 states on the Eastern half of the United States in Midwest, Southeast and East Coast regions. It was the 4th largest drugstore chain in the country. In June 2007 Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy became Rite...
, Jean Coutu's U.S. operations would eventually be sold to Rite Aid
Rite Aid
Rite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S....
. In return, a stake in Rite Aid was ceded to the French-Canadian company. The remaining Eckerd locations became Rite Aids.
For CVS, Florida's older population is a crucial pharmacy marketplace in its ongoing competition with Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
. After a major building binge in the Sun Belt prior to 2004, Walgreens dislodged Eckerd as Florida's drugstore market share leader a few years prior to that. CVS needed Eckerd's real estate to mount a credible performance quickly.
History
Eckerd was founded in September 1898 (making it the oldest of the "big four" drugstore chains), by 27-year-old J. Milton Eckerd and Z. Tatom in Erie, PennsylvaniaErie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
. In the company's early years, it operated at 1105 State Street in downtown Erie as the Erie Cut-Rate Medicine Store. In 1912, Eckerd and Tatom sold their original store to Eckerd's sons and moved to Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, establishing a new store. From Delaware, the chain expanded to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and later Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Jack Eckerd
Jack Eckerd
Jack Eckerd , was an American businessman who was a major innovator in drugstore retailing, and a public servant, politician and philanthropist.-Biography:...
, son of the founder, was responsible for the expansion of the company when he acquired three stores in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in 1952.
In 1961, Eckerd changed from a proprietorship to a publicly owned company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
. At the height of Eckerd's success, it had over 2,800 stores in more than 20 states, including 1,600 stores with Eckerd Express Photo one-hour photo labs in 19 states, and revenue of $13.1 billion in fiscal year 2000. Eckerd was the dominant drug chain in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
.
J.C. Penney and Jean Coutu
In 1996, J.C. PenneyJ.C. Penney
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...
and Eckerd agreed to merge. Under the agreement, all of JCPenney's Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug was a pharmacy chain based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was founded in 1937 and purchased by J.C. Penney in 1968, and was expanded greatly thereafter. The chain served as the flagship chain of J.C. Penney's pharmacy group. The chain didn't hide its affiliation with J.C. Penney, as...
unit of drug stores (comprising Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug was a pharmacy chain based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was founded in 1937 and purchased by J.C. Penney in 1968, and was expanded greatly thereafter. The chain served as the flagship chain of J.C. Penney's pharmacy group. The chain didn't hide its affiliation with J.C. Penney, as...
, Kerr Drugs, Fay's Drugs
Fay's Drugs
Fay's Drug was a chain of drug stores that was founded in 1958 in Fairmount, New York. 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.-Beginning:...
, and some Rite Aid
Rite Aid
Rite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S....
stores) were rebranded to the larger Eckerd name. This marked Eckerd's re-entry into the Pennsylvania market. Many Thrift Drug stores were remodeled to Eckerd's look, having their light fixtures replaced. In turn, JCPenney Catalog Centers, like Thrift Drug long had, were added to Eckerd stores.
Eckerd was owned by JCPenney from 1997 to 2004, and was one of the largest drug store chains in the U.S., with over 2,800 stores stretching from New York and Connecticut to Florida and west to Arizona. One carryover from the Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug was a pharmacy chain based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was founded in 1937 and purchased by J.C. Penney in 1968, and was expanded greatly thereafter. The chain served as the flagship chain of J.C. Penney's pharmacy group. The chain didn't hide its affiliation with J.C. Penney, as...
days after the merger took over was the presence of JCPenney Catalog Centers inside certain locations, which enabled Eckerd customers to order merchandise from store catalogs and pick it up at an Eckerd location. The sales would end a long, grueling and secretive bid process that has hung over Eckerd for the preceding six months. JCPenney, which had seen its seven-year ownership of Eckerd as a distraction that would cost too much to continue fixing, in March 2004 formally declared that it would carry Eckerd on its books as a discontinued asset. Penney also took a $1.3-billion charge against earnings in connection with selling the drugstore chain that had been accounting for 45 percent of its annual revenues. Penney, which agreed to acquire Eckerd in November 1996 and closed on the deal in 1997, was likely to lose money on its investment. Penney paid $3.3-billion and assumed $1-billion in debt to acquire Eckerd and combine it with its 800-store Thrift Drug chain. But Penney also bought more than 500 more stores from four other chains in New York state, Virginia and the Carolinas to create what for a while was the nation's second-largest drugstore chain.
In 1998, Eckerd acquired the 141-store Genovese
Genovese Drug Stores
Genovese Drug Stores was a pharmacy chain located in the New York City-Long Island area of the United States, including northern New Jersey, along with Fairfield County, Connecticut. It was acquired by Eckerd in 1998....
chain in the New York metropolitan area, and renamed the stores in 2003.
In July 2004, JC Penney. sold all of the Eckerd stores along the Eastern Seaboard from Georgia to Connecticut to the Jean Coutu Group
Jean Coutu Group
The Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. It has more than 360 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Santé Beauté banners...
. The other stores, mainly in the Southeastern and Southwestern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, were sold to CVS
CVS Corporation
CVS Pharmacy, or simply CVS, is the second largest pharmacy chain in the United States , with over 7,000 stores in 41 states and Puerto Rico...
. The other Eckerd stores that were sold to the Jean Coutu Group
Jean Coutu Group
The Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. It has more than 360 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Santé Beauté banners...
were merged with Coutu's other American pharmacy chain, Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy was a chain of more than 330 pharmacies located throughout New England and New York and has been a well-recognized name in the New England pharmacy industry for several decades. The corporate headquarters were located in Warwick, Rhode Island...
. Walgreens, however, did not expect to buy any of the stores CVS or Coutu sold. "We have always grown organically rather than buying somebody else's stores," said Walgreen Co. spokeswoman Carol Hively. Walgreens, which had 4,200 stores in 44 states at the time, had been adding 450 a year and at the time planned to have 7,000 by 2010. While CVS had 696 stores in Florida before closing any duplicates with Eckerd, Walgreens had 613 stores and plans for 748 within three years. Walgreens, however, did not expect to buy any of the stores CVS or Coutu sold. After the sale Eckerd continued to accept JCPenney charge cards and operate the Catalog Centers in certain locations.
CVS Conversions
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, and Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, which had once been among the chain's strongholds. Even a few brand-new locations in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
were transformed into CVS almost as quickly as they were built as Eckerd stores. The CVS purchase also included the Eckerd stores located in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
; however, CVS opted to close these stores.
Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy
Jean Coutu Group
The Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. It has more than 360 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Santé Beauté banners...
kept the remainder of the stores, mostly in the Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
and Mid-Atlantic U.S. states
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
. Jean Coutu operated the stores it purchased under the slightly modified "Eckerd Pharmacy" name.
Eckerd was a unit of the Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
-based Jean Coutu Group
Jean Coutu Group
The Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. It has more than 360 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Santé Beauté banners...
. The corporate headquarters was transferred from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, the base of Jean Coutu's other U.S. chain, Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy was a chain of more than 330 pharmacies located throughout New England and New York and has been a well-recognized name in the New England pharmacy industry for several decades. The corporate headquarters were located in Warwick, Rhode Island...
. The Eckerd and Brooks chains shared many of the same corporate functions. In addition, the Jean Coutu Group introduced an alternate version of the Eckerd Pharmacy logo featuring a red Eckerd capsule in an attempt to unify the Eckerd and Brooks chains.
Acquisition by Rite Aid
Rite Aid
Rite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S....
would acquire 1,858 Eckerd Pharmacy and Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy
Brooks Pharmacy was a chain of more than 330 pharmacies located throughout New England and New York and has been a well-recognized name in the New England pharmacy industry for several decades. The corporate headquarters were located in Warwick, Rhode Island...
US stores from the Jean Coutu
Jean Coutu Group
The Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian drugstore chain headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. It has more than 360 franchised locations in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Santé Beauté banners...
Group for US$3.4 billion. Rite Aid announced that the two chains would be converted to the Rite Aid name, retiring the 109-year-old Eckerd banner. The merger was signed and completed as of June 4, 2007, with all remaining Eckerd stores converted to Rite Aid by the end of September 2007.
The conversion process consisted of two steps: new computer systems, and a full PPR (paint, powder, re-set) which consisted of new signage and a new design scheme. Many of the stores received new paint on their exteriors, making them look more like brick than the white stucco design of most Eckerd locations. Eckerd's remaining JCPenney Catalog Centers were closed in favor of Rite Aid choosing to accept JCPenney charge cards chainwide.
The deal has also left Rite Aid with interesting locations within close proximity to each other to the point of competing with each other. (Only a small handful of stores have closed or were sold off to Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
, The Medicine Shoppe, or independent owners in order to meet federal regulations.) CVS
CVS Corporation
CVS Pharmacy, or simply CVS, is the second largest pharmacy chain in the United States , with over 7,000 stores in 41 states and Puerto Rico...
went through a similar situation in the Chicago area after its purchase of Albertson's drug store chains. As a result, there are several cases where the stores are only a few blocks from each other, or even right next door to each other. This is particularly the case in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
where Rite Aid (due to being based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
Camp Hill is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 2 miles southwest of Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,636 at the 2000 census...
, near the state capital of Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
) and Eckerd (due to its Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
roots in Erie
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
as well as stores that were once Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug
Thrift Drug was a pharmacy chain based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was founded in 1937 and purchased by J.C. Penney in 1968, and was expanded greatly thereafter. The chain served as the flagship chain of J.C. Penney's pharmacy group. The chain didn't hide its affiliation with J.C. Penney, as...
having roots in the Pittsburgh area) were both dominant in the state.
Slogans
- You'll like what we'll do for you!
- America's Family Drugstore
- It's Right at Eckerd!
- That's the Reason there's Eckerd: Because America Can't Wait!
- Right There With You (1998–2001)
- Get More! (2001–2007)
Eckerd College
Jack EckerdJack Eckerd
Jack Eckerd , was an American businessman who was a major innovator in drugstore retailing, and a public servant, politician and philanthropist.-Biography:...
, the son of the founder of the drug store chain, made a large donation to Florida Presbyterian College in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, in 1971, after which it was renamed in his honor as (Eckerd College
Eckerd College
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...
).