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32-688: Hook's did business under its own banner, the SupeRX Drug Stores banner outside its core market, and the Brooks Pharmacy banner after acquiring the New England pharmacy chain. The entire company was eventually purchased by fellow Midwestern drugstore chain Revco . Most former Hook's locations that are still open operate as CVS , which bought out Revco in the late 1990s and rebranded their stores as CVS. The Brooks Pharmacy stores were divested by Revco after

64-508: A chain of discount department stores in New England . The latter chain grew substantially, expanding to areas already served by Food Fair, particularly in Florida . By the 1960s, most J.M. Fields stores shopping centers featured a J.M. Fields, Food Fair, or Pantry Pride grocery store. During the 1960s, Food Fair enjoyed great success, but the most significant purchase for the company was that of

96-509: A large supermarket chain in the United States . It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, and his brother George I. Friedland who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , in the late 1920s. As of 1957, Food Fair had 275 stores, and at its peak, the chain had more than 500 stores. Friedland's family retained control of the firm through 1978, when

128-400: A mile of a Rite Aid store were sold to another pharmacy company, such as CVS/pharmacy or Walgreens , or were closed. Brooks' parent The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) USA, Inc. remained an active in-name-only subsidiary of Rite Aid, as shown in the latter company's October 2023 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. Pantry Pride Food Fair , also known by its successor name Pantry Pride , was

160-485: A small Philadelphia chain called Best Markets. Best's private label brand was called Pantry Pride. The first Pantry Pride store opened its doors at 9:00 a.m. on August 26, 1964, in Hazlet, New Jersey , test-running a no-frills discount store approach. Soon, the stores that were under the "Pantry Pride" logo eventually became more popular than the "Food Fair" brand. By the early 1970s, Food Fair had converted most of its stores to

192-622: A year later, and Hook's became a division of the privately held Hook's-SupeRx . Hook's-SupeRx acquired the New England–based Brooks Pharmacy chain in 1988. Hooks-SupeRx stores traded under three different names – Hook's Drug and SupeRx in the Midwest and Brooks Pharmacy in New England. Hook's-SupeRx was acquired by Revco in 1994. Revco was subsequently acquired by CVS in 1997. Many former Hook's locations are now CVS Pharmacies. A restored 19th-century Hook's drug store stands at

224-548: The Burlington, Vermont -based City Drug chain, greatly increasing its market share in the state of Vermont and re-entering the state of New York for the first time since the 1994 Revco acquisition. Later, in 2001, Brooks purchased all of the New England Osco Drug stores from Albertson's . (The Osco name would be reintroduced to New England in 2005, following Albertson's acquisition of Shaw's and Star Market .) During

256-530: The Indiana State Fairgrounds , and is a popular attraction at the annual Indiana State Fair . It was originally built in 1849 and has been restored with authentic 19th century cabinets. In 2000, the great-grandchildren of John A. Hook opened Hook's Apothecary in Evansville, Indiana . The store specializes in compounding prescriptions. It has no corporate ties to CVS. After Hook's was sold to Revco ,

288-543: The Indianapolis, Indiana -based Hook-SupeRx drug chain in 1988. Under the reign of Hook-SupeRx, Brooks assumed a new management team with Gayl W. Doster as COO, William Welsh in charge of operations, and David Morocco in charge of purchasing. They attempted to modernize the store base and turn around what had become a struggling chain. In 1991, Brooks developed the innovative RxWatch computerized prescription service, and in 1993, Brooks began an aggressive attempt to expand into

320-473: The 456-store, $ 2.7 billion company. By the end of 1978 the company took the first steps in the long journey out of bankruptcy by closing all of the JM Fields stores. Those stores were quickly purchased by Caldor , Jefferson Ward , and Kmart . In early 1979, the company left their home market of Philadelphia, where the firm was headquartered. The company closed more than 50 stores in the area, even though they were

352-554: The Eckerd and Brooks chains from Jean Coutu for US$ 3.4 billion. The acquisition included 1,854 stores, six distribution centers , and made Rite Aid the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast . The transaction was officially completed in June 2008. All Brooks and Eckerd locations were either rebranded as Rite Aid. To comply with FTC antitrust regulations, some Brooks/Eckerd locations within

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384-686: The New England Brooks stores to the Quebec -based Jean Coutu Group , which had already been operating stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts under the Maxi Drug and Douglas Drug trade names. The Brooks stores retained by Revco outside of New England later assumed the Revco banner, while subsequently, Jean Coutu rebranded its Maxi and Douglas stores as Brooks. However, some former Maxi stores were placed under

416-581: The New York City suburbs in the lower Hudson Valley and southwestern Connecticut In 1994, Revco acquired Brooks as part of its larger purchase of the Hook-SupeRx chain. At the time, the Brooks store base stretched from Maine to Maryland . Revco had no interest in operating the Brooks outlets in New England, as they considered them outside of their core market. As a result, that same year, Revco sold all of

448-555: The Northeast. The following year, all of Pantry Pride's assets, including Adams, were acquired by corporate raider Ronald Perelman 's Revlon subsidiary. Shortly after the Perelman acquisition, in 1986, all Adams stores were converted to the Brooks trade name. For a period of time, ownership of Brooks was continually transferred between different Perelman-owned subsidiaries, including California-based Compact Video . Perelman resold Brooks to

480-625: The Oxygen and Medical Equipment stores continued under the Hook's name in many of the same locations as before. It is now a subsidiary of Rotech Medical Corporation. Brooks Pharmacy Brooks Pharmacy was a chain of more than 330 pharmacies located throughout New England and New York and was a well-recognized name in the New England pharmacy industry for several decades. The corporate headquarters were located in Warwick, Rhode Island . During its heyday in

512-565: The Pantry Pride banner, and the company popularity grew further. In the late 1960s, the company, led by its Pantry Pride stores, continued to grow. The company also opened additional J.M. Fields stores and entered new businesses, launching drug stores , gasoline stations, and shoe stores. It also boosted its core business by entering California and Nevada through the purchase of the Fox Markets chain. The western expansion proved exhausting for

544-492: The Supermarkets General Corporation ( Pathmark Stores) that same year, but discussions were abandoned when Pantry Pride's stockholders filed a complaint. Pantry Pride outsourced their wholesale operations to Supervalu when they sold their Miami and Jacksonville distribution centers. The company then began selling off huge chunks of their assets when they sold two-thirds of their remaining stores, including

576-517: The chain entered bankruptcy . Samuel Friedland and his brother George Friedland opened his first "Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter" supermarket in the 1920s. The success of the first store led to the opening of more stores. In the late 1940s came the introduction of the name Food Fair . In 1958, Food Fair purchased Setzer's Supermarkets, a 38-store chain in the Jacksonville, Florida , area. In 1961, Food Fair bought J.M. Fields Department Stores ,

608-629: The combined Brooks-Maxi banner. Under the management of Jean Coutu, Brooks was successful for several years, growing and acquiring smaller chains and pieces of larger chains throughout the New England region. In 1995, Brooks acquired Rite Aid's entire Massachusetts and Rhode Island store network. In exchange Brooks sold its entire store base in Maine to Rite Aid and exited the state. (Ironically, many Brooks stores in Massachusetts and Rhode Island would soon return to their original banner). In 1999, Brooks acquired

640-408: The company in 1943 upon Hook's death. In 1956, following Roesch's death in a traffic accident, John Hook's son, August F. "Bud" Hook, assumed leadership of the company. The chain added 150 new stores between 1946 and 1972. In 1985, The Kroger Company outbid Rite Aid , which had attempted a hostile takeover, and acquired the Hook's chain. Kroger divested itself of Hook's and its own SupeRx drugstores

672-666: The defunct Adams Drug Company of Pawtucket, Rhode Island , a family owned operation founded in 1932 by the Salmanson Family. Adams acquired several stores under the Brooks Drug banner in Vermont and New York, and also operated stores under several other trade names throughout the Northeast. In 1984, Pantry Pride , a Florida-based supermarket chain, acquired the Adams Drug Company, which then consisted of about 400 stores throughout

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704-428: The existing Brooks network, resulting in a steady loss of market share and lagging same-store sales as CVS and Walgreens continued to expand and solidify their store base in the New England region. On June 4, 2007, Brooks Pharmacy officially announced the sale of the pharmacies to Rite Aid . The Brooks trade name, long associated with New England drug retailing, was retired. Many trace Brooks Pharmacy's roots back to

736-410: The last of their Richmond, Virginia , stores to A&P , which continued to operate the stores under the Pantry Pride banner until 1986. Only about 40 stores in southern Florida remained. In 1984 Pantry Pride acquired Devon Stores, a home improvement store, and the 400-store Adams Drug Company , which operated in the northeastern United States. The owner of Devon Stores, who obtained about 10.4% of

768-724: The late 1990s and early 2000s, Brooks Pharmacy was also seen as an innovator, being one of the first American chains to bring European derma care skin centers and consultation centers into its stores. Shortly after the Osco acquisition, President Michel Coutu made a commitment to significantly increase the size of the chain by the year 2004. This expansion was accomplished in August 2004 with Coutu's acquisition of about 1,539 Eckerd Pharmacies as well as Eckerd's headquarters in Largo, Florida , from its then-parent company, J.C. Penney . By 2005, Coutu had merged

800-632: The late 1990s and early 2000s, Brooks was one of the premier regional drug chains in the United States, and was the second largest drug chain in New England , maintaining an especially strong presence in the states of Vermont , New Hampshire , and Rhode Island . In 2002, Brooks was recipient of the 2002 Rex Awards Regional Chain of the Year. However, Brooks faced many difficulties between 2004 and 2006, as its parent company struggled unsuccessfully to integrate 1,500 Eckerd stores acquired from J.C. Penney with

832-524: The merged company, then sought an ouster of the Pantry Pride Board of Directors. In 1985, using junk bonds , 38% of Pantry Pride was acquired by investor Ronald Perelman . This was enough to acquire control, and Perelman liquidated their assets but kept the losses on the books to offset profits from MacAndrews and Forbes , which he had previously acquired. Perelman used Pantry Pride as a vehicle to acquire other companies, in particular Revlon . By 1986,

864-459: The name of Pantry Pride was changed to Revlon Group. The Delaware Supreme Court decision relating to the takeover of Revlon by Pantry Pride, Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. , has become a seminal case in American takeover law. In 1985, the last stores in southern Florida were sold to Red Apple Group, a New York supermarket chain owned by John Catsimatidis . By 1990, the chain

896-559: The operations of the Brooks and Eckerd chains together at Brooks headquarters in Warwick, Rhode Island, shuttering the former Eckerd headquarters in Florida. Between 2005 and 2006, Coutu ran into many difficulties integrating the Brooks and Eckerd chains together, and as a result, Coutu's Brooks and Eckerd outlets experienced a significant decline in market share. On August 23, 2006, The Wall Street Journal announced that Rite Aid would be buying

928-441: The predominantly East Coast retailer, eventually divesting the 50 stores by 1972. In 1976, Pantry Pride acquired Hills Supermarkets of New York . Later that year, Pantry Pride purchased the remaining 17 stores of Philadelphia-based Penn Fruit Company. In 1978, Food Fair fell victim to financial problems. The company entered bankruptcy that year and a new management team, led by supermarket veteran Grant Gentry, began streamlining

960-525: The purchase; most of them operate as Rite Aid stores. In October 1900, pharmacist John A. Hook opened the first Hook's Drug Store in an Indianapolis German community at the corner of South East and Prospect Streets. A second location opened at the corner of New Jersey and East Washington Streets and Hook added Edward F. Roesch as a partner. By 1912, the chain had expanded to twelve stores. Many of Hook's interwar drug stores were designed by Kurt Vonnegut Sr. of Vonnegut & Bohn . Roesch became president of

992-476: The second-largest chain in greater Philadelphia in terms of market share. Between 1979 and 1981 more than 200 stores were closed, along with several warehouses. Food-a-Rama bought 14 of the 48 Baltimore -area stores in 1981. By this time, Food Fair had emerged from bankruptcy, and was based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida , under the name Pantry Pride Stores, Inc. The company had entered into talks to be purchased by

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1024-598: Was being supplied by the Fleming Companies . The last store opened in 1991 in Sunny Isles, Florida . By this time, nearly all of the stores were renamed Woolley's, after Bill Woolley acquired the latter named chain of seven stores in the late 1980s. In 1993, Fleming bought the Woolley's chain after a dispute with Catsimatidis. The remaining stores were either closed or sold by 2000. Many of the stores that were sold have retained

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