Walgreens Report

WALGREENS

Fall 2015

Overview: Introduction

The Walgreen Company is the largest drug retailing chain in the United States. It has over 8,217 stores in the United States. Walgreens was founded by Charles R. Walgreen in Chicago, Illinois, in 1901. Charles purchased the Chicago drugstore where he had worked as a pharmacist. Walgreens provided access to consumer goods and services. Some of the services stores. Walgreens quickly grew as a company. By 1919, there were 20 stores in Chicago. During the prohibition, Walgreens became very successful as it sold prescribed whiskey. In 1922, Walgreens invented the malted milkshake. Customers stood three and four deep around the soda fountain to buy the "double-rich chocolate malted milk." In the mid-20’s, Walgreens expanded to four other states with a total of 44 stores with annual sales of $1.2 million dollars. By 1934, Walgreens was operating in 30 states with 600 stores. In 1946, Walgreens acquired its first foreign property when the company bought the Mexican retailer Sanborn’s. In 1950, Walgreens was the largest self-service retailer in the country. Walgreens first introduced child-resistant containers, long before it was required by law. In 1984, Walgreens opened its 1,000th store in Chicago. In 1991, Walgreens introduced its first drive-thru pharmacy. In 2009, Walgreens opened its first store in Alaska making it presence in all 50 states. In 2011, Walgreens acquired an online retailer drugstore.com and introduced Web Pickup service in Chicago. In 2013, Walgreens opened what is to believe to be the nation’s first zero energy store. Producing energy equal or greater than it consumes. This store counts with two wind turbines and 850 solar panels. Walgreens join an alliance with a British pharmacy called Alliance Boots. This crated the world’s biggest buyer of pharmaceuticals, open drug stores around the globe. That happened in 2012, when Walgreens bought 45% of alliance boots. These prosperous companies had have...