Thrift Drug

[storehistoryguy]

Remember them? I worked at the one in The Village Mall in Horsham for about two years, 1995-1996. Good times. They were started by Thriftway I believe. They were taken over by Eckerd in 1996. I left a month after it was and Eckerd, to many changes. Heres one on fire!


http://www.fire.covington.va.us/History.index.htm

[storehistoryguy]

Heres a couple of people at a Thrift Drug. Notice the bag the man on the right is holding.



http://www.moviereviewsandpreviews.com/24hr/handcuffed.html

[storehistoryguy]

Willingboro, Nj.

http://www.tomasher.net/deadretail.html

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by storehistoryguy
Willingboro, Nj.

http://www.tomasher.net/deadretail.html

that stores still there alone with that caldor

[storehistoryguy]

The Eckerd on the other end on that Shop 'n' Bag was a Thrift Drug. This is in Warrington PA..

[store215]

Article about "merger" (really just a name change) from TD to Eckerd:

THRIFT DRUG


Contents
Corporate shock wave
Building efficiency and expertise

PITTSBURGH -- In 1994, Thrift Drug president and chief executive officer Bob Hannan predicted, "We will see more change in the industry in the next six years than I have seen in the last 28 years I have been in the business."

Last month he revised his prediction. "I was right, but it happened sooner," Hannah told the 400-plus attendees who gathered to honor him as the Retail Drug Institute's man of the year. "We have seen more change in the last three years [than I have seen in all my years in the business], and I have been a direct participant in that change."

Hannan was referring, of course, to the intense number of acquisitions in the chain drug industry. Until this year, Thrift had not been an active acquirer. Yet, acquisitions defined the second half of the year for Thrift.

The chain began 1996 as the 9th largest drug chain (in revenues), with annual revenues of $1.8 billion and 625 stores. In October, when Thrift and its parent company, J.C. Penney, completed the acquisition of Fay's, the chain grew to the industry's 8th largest drug chain, with $3 billion in revenues and 926 stores. A month later, the chain and its parent promised to expand Thrift's size by approximately $360 million by agreeing to acquire 189 stores in North and South Carolina from Rite Aid Corp. Weeks later, Hannah and his chain were no longer in control of their destiny.
Corporate shock wave

J.C. Penney reached an agreement with Eckerd's board to acquire Eckerd and let Frank Newman, Eckerd's president and chief executive officer, run J.C. Penney's entire drug chain operations from Eckerd's Clearwater, Fla., headquarters. The news sent shock waves through the organization. At the time, many members of Thrift's corporate staff were preoccupied with the logistics of planning to integrate the Fay's and Rite Aid acquisitions.

J.C. Penney ultimately offered Hannah and several of Thrift executives and headquarters staff influential, albeit lower-level posts at Eckerd. (See related story on page 111.) After much soul-searching, Hannan accepted the offer to become vice chairman of Eckerd's board. "This is an industry, a profession, a group of relationships that I absolutely love," he said. "I am very pleased to be a part of the Eckerd team, and am committed to helping make Eckerd the best drug chain in America. We will be a powerful force out there."

So what kind of chain did Eckerd inherit when it began integrating Thrift into its operations in February 1997? On the front end, Eckerd will be a help to Thrift, which has 60 percent of its business in pharmacy. (At Eckerd, pharmacy represents 54 percent of sales.) When it comes to experience using POS and other technology, and running a mail order pharmacy unit and a pharmacy benefit management unit, Thrift's executives will have plenty to share with Eckerd, which is also in those businesses.
Building efficiency and expertise

In 1993, Thrift began to implement a four-year plan, which was designed to help the chain get more efficient at store level, build front-end sales, improve its ability to meet local customer needs and upgrade its real estate. The plan was expected to be completed this year.

In 1994, the chain empowered three regional vice presidents with operational responsibility for the chain's stores. The thinking was that these executives could keep an eye on the factors affecting front-end and pharmacy sales at the local level. That year it also acquired an institutional pharmacy business and installed a computer-assisted replenishment system to order front-end and pharmacy merchandise automatically.

In 1995, Thrift broadened its corporate focus to position itself as a full-service, in-formation-driven prescription benefits manager with greater market clout. The company launched TDI Managed Care Services, offering corporate and government prescription benefits programs a nationwide network of retail pharmacy providers, drug utilization review and clinical analysis.

The chain also acquired the 97-store Kerr Drug that year, doubled the size of its Pittsburgh distribution center and retrofitted the D.C. facility with new technology. Eckerd is continuing to operate this facility.

This past year, Thrift, like Eckerd, had also been studying ways to re-engineer pharmacy functions with an eye toward efficiency.

In 1995 and 1996, Thrift began to attack margin erosion at the pharmacy with new front-end merchandising programs and increasingly sophisticated niche marketing efforts. One major part of the effort this past year involved more than doubling the frequency of its circulars, introducing an image-oriented television commercial, using sophisticated systems to set prices more accurately based on historic sales performance and stepping up promotional activity. Thrift also spent considerable time this year evaluating its store base, remodeling stores and developing plans to grow market share in designated markets.

Eckerd, which has been more aggressive with both marketing and real estate efforts, should be able to continue to build on the progress Thrift made in these areas.

Many of these efforts at Thrift were spearheaded by Hannan and Anthony Civello, president of stores for Thrift. While Hannan has transferred his expertise to Eckerd, Civello has taken quite another route. He, along with several former Thrift and Kerr executives and private investors, has proposed to buy 164 stores from his former employer, J.C. Penney, and start a new drug chain, Kerr Drug.

The move serves as a reminder that almost anything can happen in these changing times.

~~~~~~~~

By Lisa I. Fried
Copyright of Drug Store News is the property of Lebhar - Friedman Inc.. Users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Source: Drug Store News, 4/28/97, Vol. 19 Issue 8, p116, 1p

[d_fife]

here is thrift drug in east brunswick nj

from http://www.siteride.com/srpl/p_snapshot.pl?lm=listing&resbox=1137868996&subNum=10215000368

[d_fife]

here is the thrift drugs that became eckerd in rockaway nj

from http://www.siteride.com/srpl/p_snapshot.pl?lm=listing&resbox=1137874679&subNum=10208000481

[Anonymous]

My speech teacher informed me that the Springfield Square North Eckerd (which was closed long before my family ever moved to Springfield) was originally Thrift Drug. Another person told me that it closed in about 1999. I know of two other Eckerd stores that closed in my area which are both still vacant, which are in Drexel Hill and Lima respectively. They were perhaps both Thrift Drug originally, because Eckerd closed many of their stores that were because they were too small. I still am not sure about either one, but if I find out then I'll post with the answers along with any other details.

[Anonymous]

My, mistake but I forgot to include that the Springfield store is now a Pier 1. I'm not very relaxed with posting yet because I just started today.

[Anonymous]

Storehistoryguy, in what areas did Thrift Drug operate? Most Eckerd stores in my area are old ones that were, but I can think of two much newer ones. One (Aston, PA) and one of the five in West Chester (the one off Boot Road in the Genuardi's shopping center.)

[store215]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Storehistoryguy, in what areas did Thrift Drug operate? Most Eckerd stores in my area are old ones that were, but I can think of two much newer ones. One (Aston, PA) and one of the five in West Chester (the one off Boot Road in the Genuardi's shopping center.)

across PA/NJ/DE is where Thrift Drug had stores. They may have had some in Maryland.

Note that there were already some Eckerd stores in New Jersey and I think Delaware too before the whole Thrift Drug name changeover. I remember going to NJ a few years back with an old Eckerd store with a sign that said "ECKERD DRUG" somewhere in NJ.

[TheFugitive]

Found this really old thread about Thrift Drug.

They were headquartered near Pittsburgh, and at some point they were acquired by JC Penney.
I interviewed for a job with them years ago which was kind of interesting.  The job was to
recruit pharmacists.  There was a shortage of pharmacists at that time (and an even bigger
one today I'd imagine) so they were always looking to bring more of them into the company.

So I met with the man and he told me that some of the job involved going to job fairs and
campuses and traditional types of recruiting stuff.  But the demand for pharmacists was so
competitive that part of it also involved walking into competing pharmacies and seeing if
you could talk the pharmacist into leaving and coming to join Thrift.

He then told me that this was a high-risk activity, as sometimes the store owner or manager
might figure out what you were doing, and, quote, physical violence may ensue!

Who knew recruiting pharmacists could be so rough?  I wasn't offered the job, I suspect because I was not big enough to handle the physical violence part.