SupeRx
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| Fate | Acquired by Revco |
|---|---|
| Successor | CVS, following acquisition of Revco |
| Founded | 1900 |
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Products | Pharmacy, Cosmetics, Health and Beauty Aids, General Merchandise, Snacks |
Hook's Drug Stores was an Indianapolis, Indiana-based drug store chain which was founded in 1900 by John A. Hook. The chain flourished throughout central Indiana for most of the 20th-century.
Hook's did business under its own banner, the SupeRX Drug Stores banner outside its core market, and the Brooks Pharmacy banner after acquiring the New England pharmacy chain. The entire company was eventually purchased by fellow Midwestern drugstore chain Revco.
Most former Hook's locations that are still open operate as CVS, which bought out Revco in the late 1990s and rebranded their stores as CVS. The Brooks Pharmacy stores were divested by Revco after the purchase; most of them operate as Rite Aid stores.
In October 1900, pharmacist John A. Hook opened the first Hook's Drug Store in an Indianapolis German community at the corner of South East and Prospect Streets. A second location opened at the corner of New Jersey and East Washington Streets and Hook added Edward F. Roesch as a partner. By 1912, the chain had expanded to twelve stores. Many of Hook's interwar drug stores were designed by Kurt Vonnegut Sr. of Vonnegut & Bohn. Roesch became president of the company in 1943 upon Hook's death. In 1956, following Roesch's death in a traffic accident, John Hook's son, August F. “Bud” Hook, assumed leadership of the company. The chain added 150 new stores between 1946 and 1972.
In 1985, The Kroger Company outbid Rite Aid, which had attempted a hostile takeover, and acquired the Hook's chain. Kroger divested itself of Hook's a year later, however, and Hook's became a division of the privately held Hook’s-SupeRx.
Hook's-SupeRx acquired the New England-based Brooks Pharmacy chain in 1988. Hooks-SupeRx stores traded under three different names - Hook's Drug and SupeRx in the Midwest and Brooks Pharmacy in New England. Hook's-SupeRx was acquired by Revco in 1994. Revco was subsequently acquired by CVS in 1997. Many former Hook's locations are now CVS Pharmacies.
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Wikipedia