Genovese Drug Stores

Genovese Drug Stores was a pharmacy chain with stores in New York City, Long Island, northern New Jersey, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Hartford County, Connecticut. It was acquired by JCPenney in 1998 and merged with its Eckerd Corporation subsidiary.

History
Genovese Drug Stores was founded in 1924 by Joseph Genovese in Astoria, Queens.

In 1955, Joseph W. Genovese Jr., the son of the founder and the chairman of the board, introduced self‐service in the chain.

By 1978, the chain had 50 locations.

The company opened its first Manhattan location in 1993. That year, it also opened its 100th store.

In January 1998, the company closed 5 stores and cut 11% of its workforce due to declining profitability.

In November 1998, the chain was acquired by JC Penney for $432 million in stock and the assumption of $60 million in debt. At that time, the chain was headquartered in Melville, New York and had 141 stores with 5,000 employees. It was still almost entirely owned by the Genovese family.

By 2003, all of the stores were rebranded as Eckerd, which was later rebranded as Rite Aid in 2006.

In 2023, Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Despite Genovese Drug Stores shutting down 20 years prior to Rite Aid's bankruptcy filing, Genovese Drug Stores was still listed in the filing.