A. L. Price

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Perry Drug Stores

File:Perry Drug Stores (logo).png
Industry	Retail
Founded	1957 (1957)
Founder	Jack A. Robinson
Defunct	Template:End date and age
Fate	Purchased by Rite Aid
Successor	Rite Aid
Headquarters	Pontiac, Michigan, United States
Key people	Jack A. Robinson - CEO, founder David Schwartz - COO, president Jerry Stone - CFO, vice president
Products	Retail, Pharmacy

Perry Drug Stores was a United States-based pharmacy retail chain established in 1957 in Pontiac, Michigan.

During its height in the 1980s, the company operated upwards of 200 drugstore locations mainly throughout Michigan, alongside 200 Auto Works automotive parts outlets and fourteen A. L. Price discount health and beauty stores.

In 1995, the chain was acquired by Rite Aid, a pharmacy company headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. At the time of purchase, Perry consisted of 224 stores, marking Rite Aid’s largest acquisition to date and introducing the Rite Aid brand to the Detroit metropolitan market for the first time.

History

File:Formerperry.jpg

A former Perry Drugs site (initially Cunningham Drug) located in Oscoda, Michigan, photographed in September 2010. Since then, the premises have been leased to Goodwill Industries.

Jack A. Robinson founded Perry Drug Stores by launching the inaugural location in 1957 on Perry Street in Pontiac, Michigan. The second store followed in 1960. By 1973, the company had secured a listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1978, Perry introduced a concept store that included an expanded range of sporting goods, a combined home and automotive center, plus live animals available for purchase. The Auto Works automotive parts retail chain was launched in 1982.

In 1982, Cunningham Drug divested 28 stores in Michigan to new proprietors who rebranded them as Apex Drug. By mid-1980s, Apex Drug locations along with other Cunningham outlets were acquired by Perry; Cunningham stores in Florida continued operations independently.

Perry entered the Chicago market in 1981. (An earlier attempt to acquire DeKoven Drugs to enter Chicago had failed.) In the following year, these Chicago stores were sold to Fred Barney and Bill Cartwright—experienced businessmen who reorganized them as Perry Drug Chicago. By 1986, Perry operated approximately 210 pharmacies and around 230 auto parts outlets. However, after experiencing financial setbacks over two years, Perry divested its Auto Works division in 1988 to concentrate on its drugstore operations within Michigan and neighboring states Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

In 1990, Perry acquired several stores from Revco located in Michigan. This transaction established Perry as the leading drugstore operator within the Detroit region and extended its reach into the Upper Peninsula for the first time.

Acquisition by Rite Aid

In 1990, Perry Drug Stores experienced a brief but significant drop in sales, leading to the divestiture of its outlets in Indiana and Wisconsin. By 1993, the Chicago-based Perry Drug locations were reacquired and subsequently liquidated.

Following the sale of its out-of-state branches, Perry concentrated on expanding its footprint within Michigan. Several stores underwent renovations to adopt the chain's "store of the '90s" design concept. Additionally, Perry introduced an online system named PerryLink across all its outlets, enabling customers to have prescriptions filled at any store location.

In 1994, Rite Aid, headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, purchased twenty-five stores from Hook's Drug Stores and soon after sold nine of these to Perry. Shortly thereafter, Rite Aid launched a tender offer to acquire all 224 Perry Drug Stores locations, including those formerly owned by Hook's Drugs. This acquisition was finalized in January 1995, resulting in Rite Aid holding a 94.5% stake in Perry. The deal significantly expanded Rite Aid’s presence in Michigan and marked its entry into the Detroit market, where it had previously operated no stores.

Despite the acquisition, Perry Drug Stores, Inc. continued to exist as a subsidiary under Rite Aid’s ownership, retaining control of certain stores up until its closure, as evidenced by the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in October 2023.

On May 5, 2025, Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time within two years. The company reported assets and liabilities ranging between $1 billion and $10 billion and announced plans to liquidate all assets as part of its restructuring efforts. This process includes handling financial difficulties caused by debt burdens, intensified competition, and inflationary pressures, with Perry Drug Stores included in these proceedings.

Other business ventures

Beyond the pharmacy chain, Perry also managed two additional niche retail chains: Auto Works and A.L. Price.

Auto Works

Starting as early as 1975, Perry distinguished itself from typical drugstores by incorporating unconventional merchandise, including automotive components such as brakes, shock absorbers, exhaust systems, and carburetors within their drugstore locations. By 1978, 15 out of Perry’s 56 outlets—exclusively located in lower Michigan—offered automotive parts.

Subsequently, Perry launched dedicated auto parts stores under the name Auto Works. By March 1983, three such stores operated in Michigan and Chicago, with ambitions to expand by an additional 20 locations.

In July 1983, Perry entered into a letter of intent to acquire Fleenor's Inc., an Indianapolis-based company managing a network of 50 auto parts outlets across Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Following completion of this acquisition, the Fleenor Auto Supply stores were rebranded as FAS Auto Works. In August 1984, Perry expanded further by purchasing three outlets from Pappy's Discount Auto Stores in the St. Louis region. Two months later in October, the company acquired Corvair Auto Parts, which operated a chain of 46 auto parts stores throughout Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

By May of the following year (1985), all outlets formerly known as FAS Auto Works and Corvair Auto Works were consolidated under the single brand name Auto Works.

In February 1988, Perry divested its Auto Works division—which comprised 252 locations across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia—to Northern Automotive for $51 million.

Northern Automotive struggled to revitalize the declining chain during its five-year tenure and ultimately sold Auto Works—then operating with 159 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and West Virginia—to Hahn Automotive Warehouse in November 1993 for $13 million in cash.

Following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Hahn Automotive Warehouse in August 1997, the remaining Auto Works stores—numbering approximately 53—were shuttered.

A.L. Price

A.L. Price operated as a discount retailer specializing in health and beauty products, with sixteen outlets located throughout the Detroit metropolitan area, having been established in 1983.

At the outset of 1990, the chain maintained sixteen stores. In April of that year, Perry Drug Stores declared its intention to divest fourteen of these locations for $14.8 million, while converting the remaining two stores into Perry Drug outlets. This strategic move was aimed at concentrating efforts exclusively on the Perry Drug brand.

By March 1993, under new leadership, A.L. Price filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At that time, the number of stores had decreased to twelve. Perry Drug, as one of the creditors, initially proposed repurchasing all twelve stores for $2 million plus inventory; however, this offer was later adjusted to acquiring eleven stores at a revised price of $10.8 million.

By May 1994, Perry had shuttered all but three of the reacquired A.L. Price locations. The company planned to convert one store into a Perry Drug outlet, consolidate the inventory of another into an existing nearby Perry store, and had not announced any specific plans for the third remaining store. Ultimately, all three stores were closed by the end of that year, with intentions to transform two of these sites into drive-through pharmacy facilities.