Perry Drug Stores

A former Perry Drugs location (previously Cunningham Drug) in Oscoda, Michigan. Since this picture was taken, the building has been re-tenanted by Goodwill Industries.

Founder Jack A. Robinson opened his first Perry Drug Store in 1957 on Perry Street in Pontiac, Michigan.[1]

In 1978, a prototype Perry store was opened, featuring an expanded sporting goods line, a home and automotive center, and live pets for sale.[2] Auto Works, an automotive parts retail chain, was introduced in 1982.[2]

Twenty-six Cunningham Drug locations were spun off by the chain's owner into a new chain called Apex Drug. By 1985, the Apex Drug locations and several other Cunningham locations were acquired by Perry, while the Cunningham locations in Florida remained in operation.[3]

In 1981, Perry Drug expanded into the Chicago, Illinois market for the first time.[4] (The chain had previously tried to enter Chicago through a failed acquisition of DeKoven Drugs.)[2] A year later, these stores were sold to businessmen Fred Barney and Bill Cartwright, two veteran businessmen who formed the Chicago operations into Perry Drug Chicago.[5]

Several units in Michigan were acquired in 1990 from Revco.[6] This acquisition made Perry the dominant drugstore chain in the Detroit area and expanded Perry's presence to the Upper Peninsula for the first time.[6]

Perry Drug Stores posted a brief period of sharp declines in sales in 1990, with locations in Indiana and Wisconsin being sold off.[7] By 1993, the Perry Drug Chicago locations were re-acquired and liquidated.[8]

After its out-of-state operations were sold, Perry continued to expand its presence within Michigan. Many locations were remodeled to the chain's "store of the '90s" format;[7] in addition, an online computer system called PerryLink was implemented at all stores, allowing for customers to have their prescriptions filled at any location.[9]

Rite Aid, a drugstore chain based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, acquired twenty-five locations from Hook's Drug Stores in 1994, subsequently selling nine of the locations to Perry.[10] One year later, Rite Aid acquired all 224 of Perry Drug Stores' locations, including the former Hook's Drugs locations.[11] The acquisition of Perry Drug Stores in 1995 was the largest acquisition made by Rite Aid. It also brought Rite Aid to the Detroit area, where it previously had no stores.[12][13]

In 2023, Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid several opioid lawsuits and declining sales.[14] Despite Perry Drug Stores shutting down 28 years prior to the filing, Perry Drug Stores was still listed in the bankruptcy filing.[15]

In addition to the drugstore chain, Perry owned two other specialty chains: Auto Works and A.L. Price. Auto Works was an automotive store which comprised more than 200 locations at its peak. This chain was sold off in 1988 to Northern Automotive (now known as CSK Auto).[16][17] A.L Price was a deep-discount health and beauty aids retailer with fourteen locations in the Detroit area. In 1990, Perry Drug Stores sold off all fourteen A. L. Price locations, as part of a decision to focus entirely on the drugstore chain itself;[18] three years later, eleven of these stores were re-acquired by Perry.[19]