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MARK ALBRIGHTJack Eckerd, who died Wednesday, transformed pharmacies in Florida into bustling mega markets.
The Eckerd name has been associated with drugstores since J. Milton Eckerd opened his first one in Erie, Pa., 106 years ago. But the second generation led by his youngest son, Jack Eckerd, would leave a much bigger and more lasting imprint on retailing history.
Never trained as a pharmacist, charismatic Jack Eckerd learned the drugstore business as a partner in his father's and other relatives' stores before venturing off to create his own version from scratch in Florida.
It is perhaps fitting that Mr. Eckerd, who died Tuesday, did not live to see the end of his creation. He stepped down as chairman of Jack Eckerd Corp. and sold his last shares in the company in 1986. Last month, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. agreed to give up trying to restore the chain's lost magic.
J.C. Penney agreed to sell the 2,700-store chain in pieces to CVS Corp. and the Canadian Jean Coutu Group in a deal that is scheduled to close next month. While Coutu intends to keep the Eckerd name on stores in the mid Atlantic and Northeast, the corporate headquarters is being merged with another in Rhode Island. For the first time since 1952 there will be no Eckerd store in Florida.
The flags were set at half-staff at Eckerd headquarters in Largo after Mr. Eckerd's death was announced. "He is a very beloved man here," company spokeswoman Joan Gallagher said. Eckerd Corp. is making a memorial contribution to Eckerd Youth Alternatives, a nonprofit program Mr. Eckerd created that has helped more than 50,000 at-risk children.
Indeed, Mr. Eckerd was one of the architects of the modern drugstore. Discount stores like Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target did not arrive on the scene until the 1960s.
Before Mr. Eckerd, the drugstores of the 1940s were mostly small, independent chains. The small stores were jammed with prescription drugs, over-the-counter remedies, a few sundries and sometimes a soda fountain.
Mr. Eckerd envisioned the drugstore as an easier-on-the-eyes alternative to the five-and-dime variety store chains such as F.W. Woolworth and S.S. Kresge that exuded cheapness. Seeing crowds flock to larger drugstores in California confirmed the idea.
He built drugstores 10 times the size of those of competitors. He filled them with a broad assortment of beauty products, health supplements, plumbing tools, small appliances and even fishing rods and tackle.
While the few big drugstore chains like Walgreens opened a handful of stores in big-city markets, Mr. Eckerd built as many as possible. That created the dominant market share consumer products manufacturers savored. It also created efficiency in advertising spending in the more expensive markets by spreading the cost over more stores.
Walgreens wanted a prominent presence in many big cities. Eckerd's goal was to be the dominant drugstore in the whole state of Florida. Then the chain spread to other states across the Sunbelt.
Mr. Eckerd was a master marketer. He dramatically lowered prices in a campaign that led to the end of the state's protectionist fair trade law. He won the loyalty of Florida retirement population by pioneering senior discounts.
His two-prints-for-the-price-of-one offer made photo processing a drugstore profit center rather than only a traffic generator.
The chain's array of store label merchandise - box fans, over-the-counter drugs and vitamin lines - were good enough that many customers thought they were higher-priced brand names.
Mr. Eckerd grew by following Florida's love affair with the strip shopping center and chasing the urban sprawl of new subdivisions. In 1959 the chain got a huge leg up on competitors when it became the preferred drugstore in shopping centers built for Publix Super Markets Inc.
The company went public in 1961 to raise money for more growth. For the next 16 years Eckerd doubled in size every two years. Three decades later, a $1,000 investment in Eckerd at the initial offering price had grown to $158,000. Mr. Eckerd himself was a hands-on executive who loved to make store visits and chat up his customers interests. But he was just as comfortable hand-picking executive talent and getting out of the way.
"He operated as a sort of benevolent dictator," said Ken Banks, a former executive vice president of marketing. "Everyone knew he was the boss. But he ran the company in a very empowering way."
- Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or 727 893-8252.