Thursday, October 30, 2008

CVS buys Longs

The purchase of Longs Drug Stores by CVS has finally been completed:

Rhode Island-based CVS can take control of Longs through the transaction as early as today, CVS said. Longs will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CVS.

The purchase will close a 70-year-long chapter in East Bay corporate history that began in May 1938 when brothers Thomas Long and Joseph Long, pioneers in the self service drug retail concept, opened their first store. That initial Longs store was located on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland.

1 comment:

mkricard said...

Hello. I'm a freelance reporter from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. This semester my class has been covering North Oakland, and we just launched a new community news site called oaklandnorth.net. I saw your post on how the first Longs on Piedmont Avenue, and I'd like to follow up on this. First, what does the acquisition by CVS mean for that store? From your post, it sounds like it's going to close. Second, how can I learn more about the history of this store? It seems like you're knowledgable about the subject. I'd like to follow-up on this soon for our site since it certainly has to do with North Oakland.

Martin Ricard
mkricard@cal.berkeley.edu