of pharmacies see katz group of companies . for the dave navarro single see trust no one dave navarro album . rexall type private industry pharmacy founded boston massachusetts 1903 headquarters boston massachusetts products drugs website rexall.com rexall is a chain of american drugstores and the name of their store branded products . the stores having roots in the federation of united drug stores starting in 1903 licensed the rexall brand name to as many as 12 000 drug stores across the united states from 1920 to 1977 . the rex in the name came from the common rx abbreviation for drug prescriptions . since 1985 it has been the name of over the counter drugs and drugstores in canada operated by the katz group of companies and of health supplements in the united states . the canadian rexall brand is not related to the us operations . contents 1 founding 2 rexall train 3 growth 4 decline 5 rexall sundown 6 dollar general and rexall 7 see also 8 references 9 further reading 10 external links founding edit in 1903 louis k. liggett persuaded 40 independent drug stores to invest 4 000 in a retailers cooperative called united drug stores which sold products under the rexall name . after world war i the cooperative established a franchise arrangement whereby independently owned retail outlets adopted the rexall trade name and sold rexall products . the company was based in boston in an area now occupied by northeastern university . rexall train edit postcard photo of the rexall train . the rexall train of march to november 1936 toured the united states and canada to promote rexall drug store products and to provide the equivalent of a national convention for local rexall druggists without the cost of travel . free tickets for locals to see displays of rexall products were available at local rexall drug stores . the 29 000 mile tour visited 47 of the 48 contiguous states omitting nevada and parts of canada . the blue and white train of 12 air conditioned pullman cars with displays in 4 cars convention facilities in 4 cars and a dining car was hauled by a streamlined 4 8 2 mohawk locomotive no. 2783 from the new york central railroad . it was the million dollar brainchild of louis liggett who travelled in the rear observation car . growth edit rexall drug store at rock rapids iowa 2006 justin whitlock dart formerly of the walgreens drugstore chain took control of boston based united drug company in 1943 . the chain operated under the liggett owl sonta and rexall brands which dart rebranded under the rexall name . rexall gained national exposure through its sponsorship of two famous classic american radio programs of the 1940s and 1950s amos and andy and the phil harris alice faye show . both shows were often opened by an advertisement from an actor griff barnett portraying your rexall family druggist and included the catch phrase good health to all from rexall . they also sponsored the jimmy durante show and there are references by the character mr. peavey in some of the great gildersleeve radio shows . rexall also sponsored richard diamond private detective starring dick powell from april 1950 until camel replaced rexall as the sponsor after the december 6 1950 broadcast . citation needed in 1946 united rexall drug inc. purchased the renfro chain in texas and lane drug stores which had 58 stores throughout the southeast . citation needed it also launched the owl superstores chain . in 1947 the company held a gala opening for their new headquarters and first store in los angeles california . the new hollywood owl was reported in life magazine as the world s biggest drugstore . 1 in 1958 the rexall drug company was the largest u.s. drug store franchise with 11 158 stores for comparison there are fewer than 12 000 mcdonald s restaurants in the u.s. today . time magazine noted that 2 3 of its stores were in areas where 1 3 of the population lived . however this comprised more than 20 % of all drug stores in the united states . citation needed dart sold his stake in rexall in 1978 . dart had acquired stakes in west bend duracell hobart corporation tupperware ralph wilson plastics and archer glass which were collectively known as dart industries . decline edit night falls on rexall in union oregon by the late 1950s rexall s business model of unitary franchised stores with each store owned independently by the local pharmacist was already coming under attack by the discount chains such as thrifty drug and eckerd . these well financed corporate entities were able to reduce costs with block purchasing and were focused on growth . by 1977 the value of the rexall business had deteriorated to the point that it was sold to private investors for 16 million . the investors divested the company owned stores though existing franchise retailers were able to keep the rexall name . these tended to be weaker stores and few kept the name as time progressed . the company did continue to distribute vitamins health foods and plastic items . across the us there remain some franchise retailers still using the rexall name . 2 rexall sundown edit sundown a maker of sunscreens acquired the rexall trademark in 1985 and continued to produce nutritional supplements and remedies under the new name rexall sundown with no relationship to the remaining chain of rexall drugstores nor to the canadian maker of medicines and sundries . numico acquired rexall sundown in 2000 . numico split up the rexall divisions and divested them in 2003 selling the name rexall sundown to nbty a us vitamin company and the unicity network division was to be sold to activated holdings 3 a privately held company . the deal fell through and unicity network was sold to its management . dollar general and rexall edit in march 2010 dollar general announced that it would retail rexall branded products . rexall products are in several of the retailer s categories including over the counter medication dental care vitamins and supplements foot care and first aid . see also edit list of nbty brands references edit life 13 october 1947 p. 59 60 stations of the staten island railway pt . 1 ransom lou . gnc drops ephedra signals recovery . pittsburgh tribune . retrieved 28 october 2011 . further reading edit the rexall story a history of genius and neglect by mickey c. smith isbn 0 7890 2472 1 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to rexall . rexall.com the rexall train ; article photos and map at themetrains.com 1958 time magazine article 1946 time magazine article 1949 time magazine article the rexall tradition katz group launches nationwide integration branding campaign pharmassist drug store news rexall family of pharmacies rexall brand meditrust pharmacy the united drug company records n.d. are located in the northeastern university libraries archives and special collections department boston ma . the rexall train at fez city toronto article and photo v t e katz group of companies pharmacy brands drug trading company pharma plus rexall medicine shoppe herbies meditrust snyder s oilers entertainment group bakersfield condors edmonton oilers edmonton oil kings edmonton capitals norfolk admirals rogers place chairman daryl katz retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rexall & oldid 743301770 categories defunct pharmacies of the united statesfranchisesretailers cooperativescompanies based in bostondefunct companies based in massachusettsformer components of the dow jones industrial averagehidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2015commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page 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