Adams Drug Company

Adams Drug Company was an American drugstore chain founded in the 1930s by Leonard Salmanson.

With his father Barnett Salmanson (Salk) and brothers Samuel, Donald and Charles, Leonard I. Salmanson opened the family's first stores in 1932 under the name Adams Drug Company in Woonsocket and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, selling health and beauty aids and assorted sundries.

Expansion and acquisitions produced one of the largest drugstore chains in the country, with over 500 stores in 14 states employing more than 5,000 people.

Under Leonard's leadership, the Salmanson family also diversified into manufacturing and real estate holdings, purchasing the Gong Bell Mfg. Co., in East Hampton, Connecticut, a toy business, the Clover Bead & Jewelry Co., in Pawtucket, and the Colt Plastics Co., North Grosvernordale, Connecticut.

Always seeking to attract new industry, the Salmanson family formed the Ivy Co. to purchase the former Raycrest Mills, in Pawtucket; Wanskuck Buildings Inc., to develop the former Wanskuck Mills, Providence; and the Drake Co., to buy and develop a 180000 sqft industrial site on Webster Street in Pawtucket.

Many trace Brooks Pharmacy's roots back to Adams Drug Company. At that time Adams acquired several hundred stores under the Brooks Drug banner in Vermont and New York, and also operated stores under several other different trade names throughout the Northeast.

In 1984, Pantry Pride, a defunct Florida-based supermarket chain acquired the Adams Drug Company, which had then consisted of about 500 stores throughout 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 over to the Brooks trade name.