Walgreens NYSE: WAG is a convenience store and pharmacy chain in the United States that operates more than 5,000 stores in 46 states and Puerto Rico. It was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901. It has since expanded throughout the United States. Its headquarters is now located in Deerfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. CVS/pharmacy and Rite Aid are two of its primary competitors.
This chain started out as a drug store with a fanatically customer-oriented owner, Charles R. Walgreen, Sr., whose theories of low prices and good service allowed the company to spread and set what are considered some of the first modern chain store standards. There is a notable and often told story of how Mr. Walgreen would deliver the drugs to his customers in the early days of Walgreens. A patient would call the pharmacy and place an order for medication, and Mr. Walgreen would fill the prescription, and send it with his assistant for delivery, all while keeping the customer on the phone with small talk conversation. Often times, the prescription would be delivered to the patient while Mr. Walgreen was still on the phone.
Walgreens pioneered the industry as the first to use child-resistant prescription caps. Walgreens was the first drugstore to have a drive-thru pharmacy. They were the first pharmacy to have all their stores linked via satellite with the introduction of Intercom Plus in 1981, and currently are the second largest users of satellites behind the US government.
It also is reputed to have helped spread the banana split, which it adopted as its signature dish (drug stores often having, at that time, a soda counter), and even takes credit for inventing, through Ivar "Pop" Coulson in 1922, the malted milkshake. Walgreens also used to feature hot food, unusual among drug stores. They ran their own food chain named Wag's which was based on restaurants that were in some of the larger Walgreens stores. Wag's was sold off to Marriott in the 1980s so Walgreens could focus on their primary pharmacy/convenience store business.
Walgreens opened its 3000th store in Chicago in 2000. Its 4000th store opened in 2003 in Van Nuys, California, and most recently Walgreens opened its 5000th store in Richmond, Virginia in October of 2005.
The company is on track to have 7000 stores by 2008.
