CVS Pharmacy, Melville, and MinuteClinic – History and Fun Facts

History and fun facts about CVS Pharmacy/Melville Corporation/MinuteClinic, America's largest retail pharmacy chain and 4th-largest company.

Support current and future Company Tales videos at   / companytales  . Be sure to subscribe, and check out these other videos.

With sales approaching $270 billion in 2021, CVS Health is the largest pharmacy chain in the United States. It was ranked #4 in the 2021 Fortune 500, placing it behind only Walmart, Amazon, and Apple for America’s biggest companies.

The retail conglomerate Melville Corporation acquired CVS in 1969. Other brands in its eventual portfolio included Thom McAn, Linens ‘N Things, Marshalls, Wilson Leather, and KB Toys. Melville spun off or sold all of its other companies by 1997 to focus exclusively on CVS.

MinuteClinic is a chain of walk-in clinics owned and operated by CVS that tests, treats, and prescribes remedies for common ailments at flat-rate fees. MinuteClinic began as a private venture called QuickMedx, which was founded in May 2000 by Rick Krieger and partners Douglas Smith, Steve Pontius, and Kevin Smith.

Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:13 - "Consumer Value Stores"
01:40 - Establishment
02:12 - Transition to Pharmacies
02:36 - Why the "/"?
03:09 - Melville Corporation
4:54 - Concentrating on CVS
5:47 - Growth and Expansion
6:11 - Acquisitions
7:15 - Post-Melville Boom: Revco
8:57 - Soma.com and ProCare
9:31 - Eckerd Pharmacy
10:28 - Diversified Healthcare Company
10:50 - MinuteClinic & Sav-on/Osco
11:28 - Caremark
11:52 - Longs Drugs
12:12 - Navarro
12:34 - Target Pharmacies and Omnicare
13:01 - Aetna
13:20 - Marketing and Brand
14:01 - ExtraCare… and those LONG receipts
15:21 - "Path to Better Health"
16:05 - Private Labels
16:37 - MinuteClinic
19:30 - Final Thoughts