Thrifty PayLess

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Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc.

Image:Payless.gif
Fate Acquired by Rite Aid
Founded 1919
Defunct 1998
Location Los Angeles, California
Industry Retail
Products Pharmacy, Liquor, Cosmetics, Health and Beauty Aids, General Merchandise, Snacks, 1 Hour Photo

Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Store chains in the western United States.

The combined company was formed when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the parent company of Thrifty Corporation and Thrifty Drug Stores, Inc., acquired the Kmart subsidiary PayLess Northwest, Inc.

At the time of the merger, TCH Corporation was renamed Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. and Thrifty operated 495 stores, PayLess operated 543 stores.

In 1998, Rite Aid acquired and the 1,000-store west coast chain's owner Thrifty PayLess Holdings re-branded it as Rite Aid, creating a chain with over 3,500 drug stores.

Contents

[edit] History of PayLess

Peyton Hawes and William Armitage acquired a controlling interest in five drug stores in three communities in Oregon and Washington, which were named PayLess, and grew their chain through both acquisition and internal expansion. By 1984 PayLess Drug Stores was the largest independently owned and operated drug store chain in the United States. It became a wholly owned unit of Kmart in 1985, as part of the Kmart expansion program created by CEO Joseph Antonini. In 1986, there were 225 PayLess stores. Between 1986 and 1988, it attempted a strategy of creating PayLess Wonder World stores in select Kmart, Value Giant, and former TG&Y locations in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico; these stores lacked pharmacies at first, but included other sundries at discount prices. The PayLess Wonder World chain peaked at 16 stores, and they were eventually reverted back to PayLess stores. By 1990 PayLess operated in nine western states. Today, a new Payless Drugs, (using a similar logo to the prior PayLess), operates as a long-term healthcare pharmacy but does not operate retail stores.

[edit] Acquisitions

  • 1973 - Acquired Seattle based House of Values and Portland owned Gov-Mart Bazaar to form Pay Less/House of Values.
  • 1976 - PayLess bought 22 Value Giant stores, the majority of which were located in Northern California.
  • 1980 - PayLess acquired PayLess Drug Stores of Oakland, California, founded by Levi Justin Skaggs.
  • 1987 - PayLess purchased 25 Osco Drug stores in Washington and Idaho.
  • 1990 - Acquired Pay Less of Tacoma.

[edit] History of Thrifty

In 1919, brothers Harry and Robert Borun, with brother-in-law Norman Levin founded Borun Brothers a Los Angeles, California drug wholesaler. In 1929, they opened their own retail outlets under the name Thrifty Cut Rate in Los Angeles, California.

By 1942, Thrifty Drug Stores had 58 stores.

During the 1950's, a Thrifty commercial jingle was heard on numerous radio stations in Southern California:

"Save a nickel, save a dime.
Save at Thrifty every time.
Save a dollar and much more,
at your Thrifty Drug and Discount Store!"

By the late-1980s, Thrifty Drug stores acquired Pay 'n Save, Sportswest stores (converted to Big 5), Bi-Mart, and Price Savers Wholesale Club warehouses from the Pay 'n Save corporation.

In Washington State, Thrifty went by the name of Giant T since the Thrifty name was in use by another chain of drug stores. The name was later changed to Thrifty in 1984. Later all Thrifty stores in Washington state were renamed to Pay 'n Save after the acquisition.

The Thrifty name and logo live on at Rite Aid, as Thrifty Ice Cream is still sold in the West Coast Rite Aid locations. The Thrifty brand of ice cream was retained because it had won several important awards in its history. Thrifty Ice Cream is also operated as ice cream shops around California. Thrifty Ice Cream changed their packaging in March 2008. The new packaging includes about an ounce of non-recyclable plastic per carton.

[edit] In popular culture

  • Thrifty and its ice cream are referenced in the song "Playdough!" by The Aquabats.
  • Many people used to get the name confused with Payless ShoeSource. PayLess Drug Stores had the name registered first in each of the states it operated in, forcing Payless Shoe Source to operate under the name "Volume Shoes". Once PayLess Drug was purchased by Rite-Aid, Payless Shoe Source was able to convert its existing Volume stores into Payless stores.
  • On "The Late Show with David Letterman," actor Robert Downey Jr revealed that he had worked at the store as a teenager, and admitted that he and his friends had been running a "grifter scam" and were selling items to their friends at significantly lowered prices (such as a lawn mower for eighteen cents).[1]

[edit] PayLess of Tacoma

A separate chain of drug stores was operating in Tacoma using the Pay Less name. These stores operated in the counties of Pierce, Kitsap, and Thurston counties in Washington state. Pay Less Northwest would rename their stores operating in those counties as House Of Values. Later the name was changed to Value Giant.

In 1990 PayLess of Tacoma filed for bankruptcy. It was acquired by Thrifty Payless shortly after the filing.

[edit] Arizona Thrifty PayLess

A separate and probably unrelated chain going by the name Thrifty-Payless was founded in Arizona by Allen Rosenberg in 1934. This self-service drug stores was sold in 1942 to L.L. Skaggs Payless drug store chain that later became Osco Drug in 1981. Rosenberg went on to be a philanthropist helping to establish Phoenix Children's Hospital.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ YouTube.com (April 2008). YouTube. YouTube: Equator Initiative.