Revco Discount Drug Stores

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Revco began in Detroit in 1956, founded by drugstore operator Bernard Shulman as Regal D.S. The young chain bought Cleveland’s Standard Drug Co. in 1961, adopted the Revco D.S., Inc. name in 1962, and shifted its headquarters to Cleveland in 1964. It built its purpose-made headquarters in Twinsburg, Ohio, in 1974.

Revco made discount drug retailing its calling card: prescriptions, health and beauty aids, everyday merchandise, and plenty of fluorescent-lit practicalities. Acquisitions carried it through the Midwest, South, and Southwest. A management-led $1.45 billion leveraged buyout in December 1986 left it heavily indebted; Revco entered Chapter 11 in August 1988, then emerged in 1992.

Back on expansion duty, Revco acquired Hook-SupeRx in 1994 and reached roughly 2,100 stores in 14 states. CVS agreed to acquire Revco in February 1997; following required divestitures, the combination remade stores under CVS and ended the Revco retail banner.

Our Revco Discount Drug Stores collection celebrates the green-and-red discount-drug-era fixture that handled prescriptions, shampoo, snacks, and emergencies with equal institutional cheer. It is a tribute to the neighborhood pharmacy where photo prints, cough drops, and household odds and ends shared one impeccably ordinary aisle.