Rexall was a chain of American drugstores , and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across the United States from 1920 to 1977. The " Rex " in the name was derived from the name of Ellen M. Regis—"Regis" being Latin for "of the king"—who developed "Rexall remedies" and from whom the company purchased the mark.
41-621: In 1903, Louis K. Liggett persuaded 40 independent drug stores to invest $ 4,000 (~$ 108,927 in 2023) in a retailers' cooperative called United Drug Stores, which sold products under the Rexall name. After World War I , the cooperative established a franchise arrangement whereby independently owned retail outlets adopted the Rexall trade name and sold Rexall products. The company was based in Boston , in an area now occupied by Northeastern University . The Rexall Train of March to November 1936 toured
82-587: A Las Vegas location in 1952. In 1959, the chain expanded into the Pacific Northwest with a store in Eugene, Oregon . Store grand opening events were always a large spectacle, with politicians as well as movie and television celebrities involved in the ceremonies. Actor Errol Flynn participated in the 1941 opening of the South Pasadena store. A neon Thrifty Drug Store sign is visible in
123-712: 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. By 1990, PayLess operated in nine western states before its parent company
164-485: A hundred brands before reselecting Thrifty as its supplier and winning the Orange County Register 's 2010 Best Ice Cream contest. Thrifty makes its ice cream using a flash-freeze technique in the manufacturing process to minimize the size of ice crystals. The final product is frozen at −60 degrees for at least a day before leaving the factory. Thrifty ice cream has won numerous gold medals at
205-425: A nickel. The price increased to $ 0.10 by 1976, to $ 0.15 by 1981, to $ 0.35 by 1991, to $ 1.29 by 2010, to $ 1.69 by 2011, to $ 1.79 by 2013, and to $ 1.99 by 2018. For many decades, Thrifty Drug Stores was using the extremely low price that it was charging customers for a single scoop of ice cream that was usually eaten inside the store as a loss leader to entice those customers to bring their entire families into
246-606: A steady supply of high-quality ice cream at a low price. To meet the demand created by their new stores, the Boruns decided in 1940 to produce their own ice cream by purchasing Borden Ice Cream Company 's existing Hollywood factory for $ 250,000 (~$ 4.26 million in 2023). Thrifty replaced the Hollywood plant in 1976 with a larger, 20,000-square-foot facility located on 3 acres in El Monte, California . Intended to supply
287-407: A total of 24 gold medals at the L.A. County Fair, more than any other competitor. Many recipes have remained unchanged for over 50 years, and real pieces of fruit and cookie are used along with Real California Milk . Thrifty ice cream contains 10.25% butterfat , compared to 12–16% butterfat in premium rivals costing twice as much. As recently as 1974, a single scoop could be purchased for just
328-915: Is now known as O'Connell House Archived December 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine and is the center of the Upper Campus. On April 22–23, 1938, the furniture and other property of the late Musa Bence Liggett were sold at auction by Louis K. Liggett's order at American Art Association - Anderson Galleries in New York City. On June 26, 1895, Liggett married Musa Bence. She was born in Michigan on March 19, 1873, to Lavinia and George W. Bence. Liggett and Bence had three children. Musa died on September 7, 1931, in Plymouth, Massachusetts . Thrifty Drug Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc.
369-560: The Los Angeles County Fair and California State Fair since 1948. Reporting on Thrifty's thirteenth consecutive gold at both fairs in 1961, the Torrance Herald explained that ice cream at these "two widely acclaimed competitions" is judged on flavor, body, texture, sanitation, color, and packaging. Thrifty has won gold medals at the L.A. County Fair every year since 1952. In 1988, Thrifty ice cream received
410-697: The New York Central Railroad hauled the similarly streamlined blue-and-white train of twelve air-conditioned Pullman cars. Four of the cars contained displays, four contained convention facilities and one housed a dining car . The train was the million-dollar brainchild of Louis Liggett , who traveled in an observation car at its rear. Justin Whitlock Dart , formerly of the Walgreens drugstore chain, took control of Boston-based United Drug Company in 1943. The chain operated under
451-715: The State of Mexico . There are plans to expand throughout Mexico via the sale of additional franchises. All Thrifty ice cream sold in Mexico is produced by the El Monte, California, plant. In October 2015, Walgreens announced that it will acquire Rite Aid, but said that it had not yet made a decision whether it would continue to carry any product line that is sold by Rite Aid, which is not currently distributed by Walgreens. Thrifty Ice Cream customers were concerned that Walgreens would discontinue carrying their beloved ice cream. After
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#1732787753994492-467: The Liggett, Owl , Sonta, and Rexall brands, which Dart rebranded under the Rexall name. Rexall gained national exposure through its sponsorship of two famous classic American radio programs of the 1940s and 1950s: Amos and Andy and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show . Both shows were often opened by an advertisement from an actor ( Griff Barnett ) portraying "your Rexall family druggist", and included
533-673: The Los Angeles area in 1981. In 1983, Thrifty acquired 50% ownership in Trak and also opened several of the auto parts stores in the Los Angeles area, 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. Thrifty Corp. itself was acquired by Pacific Lighting , the parent of Southern California Gas , in 1986. In 1988, Thrifty acquired Pay 'n Save and Bi-Mart . Following
574-892: The Renfro chain in Texas , and Lane Drug Stores which had 58 stores throughout the Southeast . It also launched the Owl Superstores chain. In 1947, the company held a gala opening for their new headquarters and first store in Los Angeles, California. The new Hollywood Owl was reported in Life as 'the World's Biggest Drugstore'. In 1958, the Rexall Drug Company was the largest U.S. drug store franchise, with 11,158 stores (for comparison, fewer than 12,000 McDonald's restaurants are in
615-462: The Rexall name. These tended to be weaker stores, and few kept the name as time progressed. The company continued to distribute vitamins, health foods, and plastic items. Across the US, some franchise retailers continue to use the Rexall name. Sundown, a maker of sunscreens , acquired the Rexall trademark in 1985, in a hostile takeover , and continued to produce nutritional supplements and remedies under
656-768: The Southwest US, Mexico, Latin America, and the Middle East. In May 2018, Bon Suisse bought close to 800,000 gallons of Thrifty ice cream a year to redistribute through restaurants, hotels, ice cream dipping stations, grocery stores and a few prisons located in California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. In May 2014, Helados Thrifty, the licensed purveyor in Mexico, had 184 locations in the northern and central Mexican states of Baja California , Baja California Sur , Sonora , Sinaloa , Jalisco , Colima , Nayarit , and
697-498: The U.S. today). Time noted that two-thirds of its stores were in areas where one-third of the population lived. However, this comprised more than 20% of all drug stores in the United States. Also in 1958, Rexall employee Joe Coulombe was asked to test the launch of Pronto Markets, a store brand to compete against 7-Eleven . After running six Pronto Markets in the Los Angeles area, Rexall asked Coulombe to close them down. Coulombe decided to buy them out instead, and eventually renamed
738-455: The United States and Canada to promote Rexall drug store products and to provide the equivalent of a national convention for local Rexall druggists without the cost of travel. Free tickets for locals to see displays of Rexall products were available at local Rexall drug stores. The 29,000 mile tour visited 47 of the 48 contiguous states (omitting Nevada) and parts of Canada. A streamlined steam-powered 4-8-2 Mohawk locomotive (No. 2873) from
779-536: The Walgreens deal was not approved by regulators, it was announced on Feb. 20, 2018 that Albertsons and Rite Aid will merge. In May 2018, Albertsons announced that it plans to sell the Thrifty branded ice cream at its groceries stores (such as Vons and Safeway ), but the announcement left many questions unanswered, such as would it keep the Thrifty manufacturing facility in El Monte, would it continue to use its current ice cream manufacturing recipes, would it keep
820-1410: The acquisition, all Thrifty stores in Washington state were renamed to Pay 'n Save. Thrifty closed all their Arizona stores in 1992 and withdrew from the state. The Thrifty name and logo live on through Thrifty Ice Cream , sold in West Coast Rite Aid locations and various ice cream shops in the southwestern United States and over 200 across Mexico. Rite Aid preserved the Thrifty Ice Cream brand because it won numerous awards in its history, and remained well known for its affordable prices, quirky flavors, and iconic cylinder-shaped scoops. Popular Thrifty flavors include longtime hits Chocolate Malted Krunch, Butter Pecan, Medieval Madness, Mint 'N Chip, and Rocky Road, as well as more recent introductions such as Circus Animal Cookies, made with real Mother's Cookies . Thrifty Ice Cream counters located within Rite Aid stores sell hand-scooped ice cream in single-, double- or triple-scoop servings on sugar, cake, or waffle cones . The ice cream also comes pre-packaged in 1.75-quart (56 oz) "sqrounder" cartons ("kind of square, kind of round") and 1-pint cartons. Thrifty traditionally sold packaged ice cream by
861-495: The background of a scene from the 1954 Judy Garland version of A Star Is Born . During the 1950s, a Thrifty commercial jingle played 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 Store! Until the early 1980s, every Thrifty store featured a self-service tube tester , usually located near
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#1732787753994902-550: The catch phrase "Good health to all from Rexall." They also sponsored the Jimmy Durante Show and references are made by the character Mr. Peavey in some of The Great Gildersleeve radio shows. Rexall also sponsored Richard Diamond, Private Detective starring Dick Powell from April 1950 until Camel replaced Rexall as the sponsor after the December 6, 1950, broadcast. In 1946, United-Rexall Drug Inc. purchased
943-481: The chain " Trader Joe's ". Dart sold his stake in Rexall in 1978. Dart had acquired stakes in West Bend , Duracell , Hobart Corporation , Tupperware , Ralph Wilson Plastics , and Archer Glass , which were collectively known as Dart Industries . By the late 1950s, Rexall's business model of unitary franchised stores, with each store owned independently by the local pharmacist, was already coming under attack by
984-456: The cosmetics display case. Vacuum tubes were still used in a wide variety of consumer electronics such as TVs and radios, and the local Thrifty store was a convenient place to test them and purchase replacements. Thrifty published a brochure helping customers diagnose which tubes might be responsible for various TV malfunctions. The brochure also provided numbered stickers to aid consumers in reinstalling working tubes in their correct sockets. In
1025-473: The discount chains, such as Thrifty Drug and Eckerd , and later in the 1960s, CVS Pharmacy . These well-financed corporate entities were able to reduce costs with block purchasing, and were focused on growth. By 1977, the value of the Rexall business had deteriorated to the point that it was sold to private investors for $ 16 million (~$ 62.8 million in 2023). The investors divested the company-owned stores, though existing franchise retailers were able to keep
1066-442: The early 1970s, Thrifty's parent began to diversify outside the drug store industry through the acquisition of Big 5 Sporting Goods , a sporting goods chain, in 1972. Thrifty expanded into general merchandising by the gradual acquisition of The Akron chain, 40% in 1976, increasing to 90% the following year, and eventually to 100%. Thrifty's parent, Thrifty Drug Stores Co. Inc., became Thrifty Corp. in 1977 to better reflect
1107-443: The half gallon in simple, waxed-paper boxes formed by folding interlocking flaps; these distinctive brick-like boxes were phased out in early 2008. Like most early-twentieth-century drug stores featuring an in-store grill and soda fountain, Thrifty initially purchased ice cream from local suppliers. However, as Thrifty constantly opened new stores and expanded rapidly throughout Los Angeles, it became increasingly difficult to secure
1148-484: The in-store scoop shops or would it keep the current price structure. Some Thrifty Ice cream customers are concerned that Albertsons may sell the plant and that the "new" Thrifty Ice Cream would be identical to the Lucerne and Signature Select store brands but just packaged in a different box. In August 2018, Rite Aid announced that it had decided to call off its proposed merger with Albertsons and remain independent for
1189-484: The moment. In May 2019, Rite Aid announced that it had expanded the distribution of prepackaged 48-ounce containers of Thrifty branded ice cream in up to eight out of 23 available flavors to Rite Aid stores in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. At the time of the announcement, there are no plans to sell ice cream by the scoop at those new stores outside of California. Two months later, Rite Aid announced that they plan to expand
1230-580: The new name Rexall-Sundown, with no relationship to the remaining chain of Rexall drugstores, nor to the Canadian maker of medicines and sundries. Numico acquired Rexall Sundown in 2000. Numico split up the Rexall divisions and divested them in 2003, selling the name Rexall-Sundown to NBTY , a US vitamin company, and the Unicity Network division was to be sold to Activated Holdings, a privately held company. The deal fell through, and Unicity Network
1271-491: The parent company's expansion into non-pharmacy businesses through the purchase of companies such as Big 5 Sporting Goods and The Akron . During the 1980s, Thrifty further diversified by entering into several joint ventures with Herbert Haft and his East Coast–based Dart Drug that would introduce Crown Books and Trak Auto to the West Coast. Thrifty acquired 50% ownership of Crown and had opened several bookstores in
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1312-455: The store on a regular basis to eat ice cream that was sold at or below cost while those same customers browse the aisle (while eating) and usually find other items to purchase before leaving the store. Thrifty achieved Kosher certification for its ice cream products in 1994. Since 1995, Bon Suisse, a Poway , California–based company, has held an exclusive license to use the Thrifty brand name and sells 800,000 gallons of Thrifty ice cream in
1353-643: The then recently completed Pellissier Building in the Mid-Wilshire district , on Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue , in 1931. This was their first store outside of downtown , and it was quickly followed by several new stores within a few miles of downtown. By 1942, Thrifty Drug Stores operated 58 stores. By the time their 100th store opened in Studio City in 1950, Thrifty ranged as far north as Santa Rosa, California , and as far south as San Diego . Thrifty soon expanded outside California, opening
1394-404: The then-existing 450 Thrifty stores as well as outside purveyors, the new facility was initially capable of producing 16 million gallons of ice cream annually. In 2010, the plant produced ice cream for 599 Rite Aid stores across California, as well as wholesale customers such as Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour and Costco , which accounted for 40% of sales. The reborn Farrell's franchise tested
1435-399: The western United States. Some stores were sold to his brother Samuel "L.S." Olnie Skaggs (then an executive at Safeway ) along with some colleagues. L.J. Skaggs retained California PayLess Stores, which eventually became part of Thrifty PayLess. The remaining PayLess stores were renamed Skaggs Drug Stores in 1948, and Skaggs Drug Centers in 1965. Peyton Hawes and William Armitage acquired
1476-570: Was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles–based TCH Corporation , the parent company of Thrifty Corporation and Thrifty Drug Stores, Inc. , acquired the Kmart subsidiary PayLess Drug Stores Northwest, Inc. At the time of the merger, TCH Corporation
1517-534: Was acquired by Rite Aid and the stores rebranded. In 1919, brothers Harry and Robert Borun, along with brother-in-law Norman Levin, founded Borun Brothers , a Los Angeles drug wholesaler. By 1929, the brothers opened their own Los Angeles retail outlets under the name Thrifty Cut Rate . The first store was located at 412 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, just across the street from the original Broadway Department Store . After opening five additional downtown area stores, Thrifty opened their seventh store in
1558-840: Was an American drug store magnate who founded L.K. Liggett Drug Company and then Rexall . He was later chairman of United Drug Company . He was a member of the Republican National Committee for Massachusetts . He was born in Detroit , Michigan , on April 4, 1875. His parents were John Templeton Liggett and Julia A. Kroh. In 1936 he toured America and parts of Canada with the Rexall Train to promote Rexall stores and products. In 1937 Louis Liggett moved to 170 Ivy Street, in Brookline, Massachusetts . He died on June 5, 1946, in Brookline, Massachusetts . He
1599-819: Was entombed in the Liggett Mausoleum in Newton Cemetery in Newton. From 1916 to 1937, Louis Liggett owned and occupied a 9-acre (36,000 m ) estate at 185 Hammond Street in the village of Chestnut Hill in Newton, Massachusetts . The main house, built in 1895, was modeled on Gwydr Hall in Wales . Musa Liggett died in 1931. The estate was donated in 1937 to Cardinal William Henry O'Connell , Archbishop of Boston, who in 1941 donated it to Boston College , which used it to create its Upper Campus. The main house
1640-580: Was renamed Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. and Thrifty operated 495 stores, PayLess operated 543 stores. In 1996, Rite Aid acquired 1,000 West Coast stores from Thrifty PayLess Holdings, creating a chain with over 3,500 drug stores. Thrifty PayLess, Inc. remained an active subsidiary of Rite Aid (owning stores purchased from Thrifty PayLess), as shown in the company's October 2023 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. In 1932, L.J. Skaggs opened Payless Drug Stores in Tacoma, Washington , which soon expanded across
1681-583: Was sold to its management. As of 2022 Nestle was assigned all trademarks of Rexall Sundown. In March 2010, Dollar General licensed the Rexall name from healthcare giant McKesson Corporation (which acquired Rexall (Canada) in 2016), and announced that it would be the exclusive retailer for Rexall-branded products. Rexall products are in several of the retailer's categories, including over-the-counter medication, dental care, vitamins and supplements, foot care, and first aid . Louis K. Liggett Louis Kroh Liggett (April 4, 1875 – June 5, 1946)