Katz Drug Store was a regional chain of

pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

History

In 1914, brothers Ike and Mike Katz opened two drug stores in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. One was located on 8th Street and Grand Avenue and the second inside the "Argyle Building" on 12th and McGee Street. At the start of

WWI World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

, the Katz Drug Stores became famous because they were allowed to stay open past 6 pm, despite wartime curfews on nonessential businesses. They also absorbed the new 10% tax on cigarettes instead of passing the cost to customers, which was incorporated into their new slogan “Katz pays the tax!” Katz also sold more than just drugs: each store had a small

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

with a

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The machine combines flavored syrup or syrup concentrat ...

and

lunch counter A lunch counter or luncheonette is a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server serves food from the opposite side of the counter, where the kitchen or food preparation area ...

and sold small

home appliances A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...

music record Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...

s, Katz-branded

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

, and even live animals. Katz focused on low-cost branding, and they quickly grew to 65 stores in 5 states. At their peak, they generated over $100 million in annual sales and employed over 3,000 people. Self-service chain stores became more popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so Katz began losing market share. Katz sold itself in 1971 to

Skaggs Drug Centers American Stores Company, Inc. was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1998. The company was incorporated in 1917 when The Acme Tea Company ...

, which eventually merged with

Osco Drug Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs were the names of a pair of chain pharmacies that operated in the United States. Osco Drug was founded by the Skaggs family. Alpha Beta grocery store was purchased by American Stores in 1961. Skaggs Drug Centers bou ...

, which eventually merged with

CVS Pharmacy #REDIRECT CVS Pharmacy {{R from other capitalisation Company now has a new name to go along with it's anti-tobacco changes. New name is CVS Health ...

Katz Drug Store sit-ins

Katz Drugstores followed local segregation practices, meaning non-whites were often denied service at lunch counters. In 1948, Edna Griffin and her family were denied service at a Katz Drugstore in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, which led to sit-ins and protests. In 1949 the Iowa Supreme Court determined Katz was in violation of the state's civil rights law. The 1958 Katz Drug Store sit-in was one of the first protests of its kind during the civil rights movement, occurring on August 19, 1958, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, Oklahoma. In protest of racial discrimination, black schoolchildren sat at a lunch counter with their teacher, demanding to be served and refusing to leave until they were. They sought to end the

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

of eating places in their city, sparking a sit-in movement in Oklahoma City that lasted for years.

References

{{Reflist Pharmacy brands Defunct pharmacies of the United States American companies established in 1914 Retail companies established in 1914