Kinney Drugs is an American chain of approximately 100

drugstore A pharmacy (also called drugstore in American English or community pharmacy or chemist in Commonwealth English) is a premises which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of m ...

s throughout central and northern

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. The chain specializes in providing services to small communities.

History

The company was founded in 1903 by Burt Orrin Kinney, a native of

Gouverneur, New York Gouverneur ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in St. Lawrence County, New York, St. Lawrence County, New York (state), New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 6,551. Th ...

. The first drugstore was opened in Gouverneur and is currently in operation. In 1962, a distribution center was opened. In 2008, Kinney Drugs became owned by its employees. The company held a

stock buyback Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the reacquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way (relative to dividends) of returning money to shareholders. Repurchases allow s ...

for the 60 percent of the 2.84 million shares of company stock which were held by people who did not work for the company. The reorganization had the company paying $90 per share to buy back stock at an estimated cost of $140 million. In 2002 the company created the Kinney Drugs Foundation which makes awards to local and national charities.

Locations

Kinney Drugs operates primarily throughout the metropolitan areas of

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, Watertown, and

Plattsburgh Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding (and separately in ...

. About 20% of the company's stores are in Vermont and they opened their first drugstore in Saint Albans in the mid-1900s. Many locations have freestanding stores with drive-thru pharmacies. The pharmacy also offers free delivery.

References

Pharmacies of the United States Health care companies based in New York (state) Pharmacy benefit management companies based in the United States Retail companies established in 1903 {{US-retail-company-stub