Eckerd

Eckerd is a drug store chain with more than 1,549 stores in more than 13 states across the Mid-Atlantic and New England portions of the United States. The store base stretches from Georgia to New York.

The corporate headquarters is currently in Florida, where there are no longer any Eckerd stores. Eckerd is a unit of the Quebec-based Jean Coutu Group.

Prior to July 2004, Eckerd was owned by JC Penney, and was one of the largest drug store chains in the U.S., with over 2,000 stores stretching from New York to Florida and west to Arizona. In July 2004, JC Penney sold 1,400 stores in the following states in the Southeastern and Southwestern United States to CVS:

Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Florida
Kansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Texas

Most of the stores that CVS purchased are in Florida and Texas. CVS is in the process of converting the Eckerd stores it purchased to the CVS name, and the Eckerd name will disappear from those markets by the end of 2004. Jean Coutu purchased the remainder of the stores, mostly in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic US states. Jean Coutu is planning to continue operating the stores it purchased under the name Eckerd.

The founder of the drug store chain, Jack Eckerd, made a large donation to Florida Presbyterian College in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1971, after which the College was renamed Eckerd College.