Peoples Drug

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Peoples Drug
Fate Acquired by CVS
Founded 1904 Washington, D.C.
Defunct 1994
Location Washington, D.C.
Products Pharmacy, Liquor, Cosmetics, Health and Beauty Aids, General Merchandise, Snacks, 1 Hour Photo

Peoples Drug was a chain of drug stores based in Washington, D.C.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Beginning

Peoples Drug was founded by Malcolm Gibbs in 1904, and by 1930 had 110 stores operating under Peoples Drugs, Days Drug, and Shearer Drug names. There were variations of the name, with Peoples Service Drug, and Gibbs Peoples Drug being most common.

By 1975, Peoples had grown to 500 stores. Later in the year, the chain was purchased by Lane Drug of Ohio. The new company retained the Peoples name, and included Lane Drug, Schuman Drug, Dynamic Drug, Health Mart, Reed Drug, and Lee Drug. Lane president Shelson "Bud" Fantle took over the prsidency of the chain and went to work on improving merchandising and customer service at People's. He later left Peoples to take control of troubled Dart Drug in Washington DC, renaming those stores Fantle's.

[edit] Acquision by Imasco

In 1984, Peoples was acquired by the Canadian conglomerate Imasco, the Canadian arm of British American Tobacco, and owner of Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix in Canada. Peoples took control of the Florida Shoppers Drug Mart locations. Peoples soon acquired Rea & Derick and Haag Drug. Peoples and its divisions had close to 800 stores and became one of the country's leading drug chains.

[edit] Sales and Conversions

Over the next couple of years, the Haag stores were converted to Peoples, and Dynamic and Schuman were converted to Lane. A program was implemented to convert all stores to the Peoples Drug name. Many Lane and Rea & Derrick stores were converted, all stores began selling Peoples Brand product, and began using bags with the Peoples Drug logo. Before long, Peoples decided to sell some of their stores and concentrate on the Mid Atlantic states.

The first sale was the Atlanta based Reed/Lee Drug to Big B Drugs. The 85 store division gave Big B their entrance into the Atlanta market, a goal they had been working on for years. The next sale was Lane drug to Rite Aid, effectve April 11, 1989. The last phase was the Indiana division of Peoples being sold to management, changing the former Peoples stores to Reliable Drugs. Reliable survived only two to three years prior to being bought by Rite Aid.

[edit] CVS Corporation Sale

After the dust settled from the sales, Imasco decided to unload the Peoples Drug chain, as Peoples wasn't performing at the level Imasco had hoped. In late 1990, CVS Corporation purchased Peoples. CVS kept the Peoples Drug name in place, remodeled most stores to the CVS format and improved the stores sales.. The Peoples name was considered to be too strong a name to change it to CVS/pharmacy immediately. The name did ultimately change in May of 1994, just a few months before the Peoples Drug name would have celebrated its 90th anniversary.

[edit] Trivia

  • In his autobiography My American Journey, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell described that in the mid-1970's, he painted a rusty 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan (in which his wife, Alma, hated to be seen) with white latex paint that he bought at a Peoples Drug store.
  • Because several of the Soviet-dominated nations of Eastern Europe were called "People's Republics", it was joked that "Peoples Drug" was the only non-communist organization called "Peoples". Probably, "Peoples" is the family name of an early participant.[citation needed]
  • According to a Peoples Drug Employee Handbook from 1979, when Peoples openned in 1904, most pharmacies catered to the high class citizens of the community. Malcom Gibbs decided that the stores would be aimed at the working man, and middle class. The name Peoples was meant to infer the store was for all people.

[edit] References

  • Peoples Drug Store Annual Reports 1965-1983
  • Imasco Enterprises Annual Reports 1984-1990
  • Melville Corporation Annual Reports 1991-1995
  • "The Chain Welder", Peoples Drug Company Magazine 1920-1937
  • "Employee Handbook" Peoples Drug, August 1979