Perry Drug Stores

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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 U.S.-based pharmacy retail chain established in 1957 in Pontiac, Michigan.

During its height in the 1980s, Perry operated over 200 pharmacy locations mainly across Michigan, alongside 200 Auto Works automotive parts outlets and fourteen A. L. Price discount stores specializing in health and beauty products.

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

History

File:Formerperry.jpg

A former Perry Drugs store (previously Cunningham Drug) located in Oscoda, Michigan, photographed in September 2010. Since then, the site has been leased by Goodwill Industries.

Jack A. Robinson founded the initial Perry Drug Store in 1957 on Perry Street in Pontiac, Michigan. The second store opened three years later in 1960. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1973.

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

Also in 1982, Cunningham Drug divested 28 locations within Michigan to new proprietors who rebranded them as Apex Drug. By 1985, Apex Drug outlets along with several other Cunningham locations were acquired by Perry; however, Cunningham’s Florida stores remained operational under their original management.

Perry ventured into the Chicago, Illinois market for the first time in 1981. This followed an unsuccessful attempt to enter Chicago through acquiring DeKoven Drugs. One year later, ownership of these Chicago stores transferred to Fred Barney and Bill Cartwright—experienced businessmen who established them as Perry Drug Chicago. By 1986, Perry operated approximately 210 drug stores alongside roughly 230 auto parts outlets. After experiencing financial setbacks over the subsequent two years, the company sold its Auto Works division in 1988 to concentrate on its core pharmacy business across Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

In 1990, Perry expanded its footprint by acquiring several Michigan locations from Revco. This move solidified Perry’s position as the leading drugstore chain within the Detroit area and marked its initial entry into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Sale to Rite Aid

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

Following the sale of its out-of-state branches, Perry focused on expanding within Michigan. Numerous stores underwent renovations to adopt the chain's updated "store of the '90s" design. Additionally, the company introduced PerryLink, an online computer network across all 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 then resold nine of these to Perry. Shortly thereafter, Rite Aid launched a tender offer to acquire all 224 Perry Drug Stores locations, including those previously owned by Hook's Drugs. This acquisition was finalized by January 1995, with Rite Aid securing 94.5% ownership of Perry's stock. The deal significantly expanded Rite Aid’s footprint in Michigan and marked its entry into the Detroit market, where it had no prior presence.

Despite the acquisition, Perry Drug Stores, Inc. continued to operate as a subsidiary under Rite Aid, maintaining ownership of certain stores up until its closure. This status was evident in Rite Aid’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings from October 2023.

On May 5, 2025, Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time within two years, reporting assets and liabilities ranging between $1 billion and $10 billion. As part of its restructuring efforts to address financial pressures such as debt load, heightened competition, and inflationary costs—including those related to Perry Drug Stores—the company planned to liquidate all assets.

Other Business Ventures

Besides managing the drugstore network, Perry also operated two additional specialty retail chains: Auto Works and A.L. Price.

Auto Works

Perry distinguished itself from typical drugstores by introducing unconventional merchandise, including automotive components such as brakes, shocks, exhaust systems, and carburetors as early as 1975. By 1978, 15 of Perry’s 56 outlets in lower Michigan had incorporated automotive parts into their inventory.

A few years later, Perry launched standalone auto parts stores under the name Auto Works. By March 1983, three locations were operational in Michigan and Chicago, with intentions to expand by an additional 20 stores.

In July 1983, Perry entered into a letter of intent to acquire Fleenor's Inc., an Indianapolis-based company owning 50 auto parts outlets across Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Following completion of the acquisition, Fleenor Auto Supply stores were rebranded as FAS Auto Works. In August 1984, Perry expanded further by purchasing three Pappy's Discount Auto Stores locations in the St. Louis region. Later that year in October, Perry acquired Corvair Auto Parts’ chain of 46 outlets spanning Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

By May of 1985, all outlets formerly known as FAS Auto Works and Corvair Auto Works had been consolidated under the single brand Auto Works.

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

After five years under Northern Automotive’s ownership without a successful turnaround, the struggling chain—then consisting of 159 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia—was sold to Hahn Automotive Warehouse in November 1993 for $13 million in cash.

Eventually filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection led Hahn Automotive Warehouse to close all remaining Auto Works locations—53 stores—as of August 1997.

A.L. Price

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

At the start of 1990, the chain maintained sixteen stores. In April of that year, Perry Drug Stores declared its intention to divest fourteen of these sixteen A.L. Price locations for $14.8 million, while converting the remaining two into Perry Drug stores. This move was part of Perry's strategy to concentrate exclusively on its core drugstore operations. The sale involved transferring ownership of most stores to a former president of F & M Distributors Inc., another discount chain, although financial terms were not publicly disclosed. Perry planned to retain two stores situated in Okemos and Battle Creek, considering their conversion to Perry Drug outlets.

By March 1993, under new leadership, A.L. Price filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, operating twelve stores at that time. Perry Drug, as one of the creditors, initially announced a plan to repurchase all twelve stores for $2 million plus inventory. Subsequently, the offer was revised to acquire eleven stores instead, with the purchase price increasing to $10.8 million.

By May 1994, Perry had shuttered all but three of the reacquired A.L. Price locations. The company intended to transform one store into a Perry Drug outlet, consolidate the inventory of a second store into a nearby Perry location, while no specific plans were disclosed for the third store. Ultimately, all three remaining stores were closed by the end of 1994, with intentions announced to convert two into drive-through pharmacies.