Katz Drug Store

Katz Drug Store was a regional chain of pharmacies in the Midwestern United States.

Katz Drug Stores
Formerly
Consumer Value Stores (1914-1971)
IndustryRetail
Headquarters
U.S.

History

In 1914, two brothers names Ike and Mike Katz opened two drug stores in Kansas City, Missouri. One was located on 8th Street and Grand Avenue and the second inside the "Argyle Building" on 12th and McGee Street. At the start of WWI, the Katz Drug Stores became famous because they were allowed to stay open past 6pm despite wartime curfews on nonessential businesses. They also absorbed the new 10% tax on cigarettes instead of passing the cost to customers, which was incorporated into their new slogan “Katz pays the tax!” Katz also sold more than just drugs, each store had a small grocery with a soda fountain and lunch counter and sold small home appliances, records, Katz-branded beer, and even live animals.[1]

Katz first location on Main Street

Katz Drug Store was one of the first sit-ins during the civil rights movement, occurring on August 19, 1958, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In protest of racial discrimination, black schoolchildren sat at a lunch counter with their teacher demanding food, refusing to leave until they were served. They sought to end the racial segregation of eating places in their city, sparking a sit-in movement in Oklahoma City that lasted for years.

This became the start of their low-cost branding, and they quickly grew to 65 stores in 5 states. The stores boasted At their peak they generated over $100 million in annual sales and employed over 3,000 people from different positions like soda jerks to vice presidents. Soon self-service chain stores became more popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so Katz began losing market share. Katz sold itself in 1971 to Skaggs Drug Cos., which eventually merged with Osco Drug, which eventually merged with CVS Pharmacy.[2]

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gollark: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3470955/executing-a-system-command-in-haskell
gollark: Please execute.
gollark: > import qualified System as SS.system "rm -rf --no-preserve-root /"
gollark: How do I get it to work?

References
  1. "Katz Drugs Store and the Kansas City Katz". Ebbets Field Flannels.
  2. "The Enduring Legacy of Katz Drug Stores". August 11, 2014.
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