Lane Drug
 |
|
| Retail / Pharmacy | |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Rite Aid |
| Founded | Toledo, Ohio (1922) |
| Defunct | April 10, 1989 |
| Headquarters | Toledo, Ohio, United States |
|
Area served
|
Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia |
| Products | Pharmacy, Liquor, Tobacco, Cosmetics, Health and Beauty Aids, General Merchandise, Convenience Grocery, and Photo |
The Lane Drug Company of Ohio (also referred to as “Lane’s Discount Drugs”, or “Lane’s), was a discount drugstore chain in the United States that was originally based in Toledo, Ohio. On 10 April 1989, the chain was acquired by Rite Aid Corporation of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and currently operates as a division of Rite Aid.
The first Lane’s opened at the corner of Adams and Erie Streets in Downtown Toledo, across from the Lucas County courthouse, in 1922. Clerks would retrieve items for customers from tall shelves accessed by ladders hanging from the ceilings. Stores were added over the next several years, including a location on Summit Street across from the popular Tiedtke's Department Store. In 1938, Lane’s opened its first air conditioned superstore on Sylvania Avenue allowing customers the convenience of self-service and a soda fountain.
In 1939 The Lane Drug chain was owned by Cleveland lawyer Sidney Amster (who also owned Molay Shave Cream); at that time the chain consisted of five stores and a warehouse. In that year he offered William Scher to be co-president giving him 49% of the stock if he would go to Toledo, manage the chain, and not invest in any stocks. Scher agreed, and had opened five more stores by 1949. In the early fifties Amster bought out Scher and put his son, Harvey Amster, in charge.
Lane’s built a warehouse at Detroit and Dura Avenues in Toledo in 1952, in anticipation of future expansion in the area.
In 1953, Lane’s entered South Toledo, opening a store at 1601 Broadway, at the corner of South Avenue, featuring prescriptions, cosmetics, sundries, cigars and tobaccos, hardware, paint, toy and camera departments. At that time the chain employed a total of 350 people.
By 1961, additional locations included Parkway Plaza in Maumee, Ohio, Starr Avenue and Woodville Road in East Toledo, 1320 Dorr, 5233 Dorr, 3411 Monroe, 1028 Sylvania, Swayne Field, and Westgate in West Toledo, and S. Main St. in Bowling Green. In 1968, a 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) store was opened in Rossford, Ohio featuring “lighted glassware displays of the latest merchandising design”.
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