Pay 'n Save

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Pay 'n Save grew from a Seattle discount-drugstore opportunity into one of the Pacific Northwest’s defining retail names. Monte Lafayette Bean became involved with the business after the Payless drugstore at 319 Pike Street changed hands; Pay'n Save Drugs opened in early 1947. The formula was straightforward and potent: broad merchandise, lower prices, prescriptions, and the practical thrill of leaving with more stuff than planned.

Under Bean family leadership, the company expanded far beyond pharmacy counters. Pay 'n Save acquired and developed such Northwest names as Ernst hardware and home centers, Malmo nurseries, Seattle Sporting Goods/Sportswest, and Lamonts apparel. By 1974, its drugstore operation alone had reached 106 stores across Washington and nine other western states and western Canada. A 1975 federal filing described a Seattle-based retailer selling drugs, toiletries, apparel, hardware, garden supplies, and sporting goods.

The 1980s brought corporate turbulence, leveraged-buyout drama, divestitures, and a back-to-basics reset. Major divisions including Bi-Mart, Lamonts, and Schuck's were spun out in 1985. Thrifty Corporation acquired the Pay 'n Save drugstore and Bi-Mart operations in 1988. In 1992, PayLess Drug Stores acquired the 124-store Pay 'n Save chain and retired the familiar name through conversion to PayLess Drug.

Our Pay 'n Save collection celebrates the blue-and-green Northwest retail institution that sold the essentials, the extras, and probably one more thing you absolutely did not need.