Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

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Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by storewanderer »

Anyone know what the history of this store is? From what I can tell it opened in 1993. It is in an anchor space and a fairly large store. I think it may be an old Thrifty but it is difficult to tell. Also gives off vibes of an old SuperX but that is a reach. From the outside I thought it may have been one of the old SoCal CVS units but I think it is too big to have been one of those. The aisles go sideways from the front in a Skaggs style.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by HCal »

https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/7200/ ... 5e0de208c1

Per this website, its license was issued in 1974. (It may have been there before that, but older licenses may not be available online.)

A Yelp review also mentions that it has been there since the '70s.

My guess is it most likely opened as Crown Drug. By now it's probably either in second generation family ownership, or has been sold to another pharmacist or investor.

It's nice to see these independent pharmacies still holding their own against the big chains.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by buckguy »

The 70s would have been the end of the era where people were still establishing (or taking over) independent drug stores, which makes sense. I started going to southern California in the 80s and it didn't seem as though they had the numbers of independent or even small chain drug stores you found in the East or Midwest.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by jamcool »

A lot of the independent pharmacies have started to specialize in things like compounding and home medical equipment.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 2:22 am https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/7200/ ... 5e0de208c1

Per this website, its license was issued in 1974. (It may have been there before that, but older licenses may not be available online.)

A Yelp review also mentions that it has been there since the '70s.

My guess is it most likely opened as Crown Drug. By now it's probably either in second generation family ownership, or has been sold to another pharmacist or investor.

It's nice to see these independent pharmacies still holding their own against the big chains.
Their Facebook showed them getting an award from the City of Carson celebrating their service to the city since 1993.

I wonder if they were in business at a smaller location since 1974 then moved into the current location in 1993.

In some markets there are still quite a few independent pharmacies. In places like my market in Reno, NV there are almost none left.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by HCal »

storewanderer wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 11:05 pm
HCal wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 2:22 am https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/7200/ ... 5e0de208c1

Per this website, its license was issued in 1974. (It may have been there before that, but older licenses may not be available online.)

A Yelp review also mentions that it has been there since the '70s.

My guess is it most likely opened as Crown Drug. By now it's probably either in second generation family ownership, or has been sold to another pharmacist or investor.

It's nice to see these independent pharmacies still holding their own against the big chains.
Their Facebook showed them getting an award from the City of Carson celebrating their service to the city since 1993.

I wonder if they were in business at a smaller location since 1974 then moved into the current location in 1993.

In some markets there are still quite a few independent pharmacies. In places like my market in Reno, NV there are almost none left.
There is a second license issued in 1994. https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/7200/ ... 91264b30cc

The address is the same but it has the name of a pharmacist which the first one doesn't. Perhaps the ownership changed at that time? Or the city was recognizing the pharmacist's service? It's hard to tell exactly.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: May 24th, 2022, 12:03 am
storewanderer wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 11:05 pm
HCal wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 2:22 am https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/7200/ ... 5e0de208c1

Per this website, its license was issued in 1974. (It may have been there before that, but older licenses may not be available online.)

A Yelp review also mentions that it has been there since the '70s.

My guess is it most likely opened as Crown Drug. By now it's probably either in second generation family ownership, or has been sold to another pharmacist or investor.

It's nice to see these independent pharmacies still holding their own against the big chains.
Their Facebook showed them getting an award from the City of Carson celebrating their service to the city since 1993.

I wonder if they were in business at a smaller location since 1974 then moved into the current location in 1993.

In some markets there are still quite a few independent pharmacies. In places like my market in Reno, NV there are almost none left.
There is a second license issued in 1994. https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/7200/ ... 91264b30cc

The address is the same but it has the name of a pharmacist which the first one doesn't. Perhaps the ownership changed at that time? Or the city was recognizing the pharmacist's service? It's hard to tell exactly.
CVS withdrew from Southern California in 1993 but at the time the stores were sold to Sav-On and mostly rebranded to Sav-On Express. I am thinking this may have been a CVS. Seemed too big.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by buckguy »

jamcool wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 7:54 am A lot of the independent pharmacies have started to specialize in things like compounding and home medical equipment.
Those often were their niches going back to at least the 60s.

Neighbors of ours had a pharmacy which was kept going by institutional accounts--they served as the pharmacy for nursing homes and a couple small specialty hospitals (a psych hospital and a Salvation Army women's hospital). They were able to sell their business at a time when other independents were closing shop. One hospital relocated to a site adjacent to a larger general hospital where they shared services, while the other closed and the nursing home business came to be dominated by chains, so the pharmacy ultimately closed. It's a bar now.

Other indies did things like stock difficult to find drugs and worked with local specialists. One also worked with travel agents and stocked things like travel vaccines and malaria prophylaxis. Our neighbors didn't stock narcotics--they worked with another indie to supply those and sent their walk-in trade to that store for them.
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by storewanderer »

Any updates on current status of this store?
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Re: Crown Drugs-Carson, CA

Post by Alpha8472 »

A review on yelp says this store will be closing. The insurance companies are killing off these independent pharmacies due to terrible reimbursement rates. Many insurance companies make it so that the pharmacy loses money whenever they fill a brand name prescription. It is purely greed on behalf of insurance companies.
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