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1873-1939
"We believe that honest goods can
be sold to honest people by honest
methods." Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.
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Charles Rudolph Walgreen was the founder and
first president of Walgreen Co., a pharmacy chain
which today employs nearly 200,000 workers, in
more than 5,400 stores in 47 U.S. states and Puerto
Rico. He was born on October 9, 1873, on a farm
near Rio, Illinois. His parents were Swedish
immigrants. Charles attended high school in
Dixon, Illinois until the age of 16. He then moved
on to the Dixon Business College and one year
later entered the work force.
Walgreen moved to Chicago in 1893, and his life
reached a turning point under the employ of a
Mr. Valentine of Valentine's Drug Store in
Chicago, Illinois. After hiring Walgreen as a clerk,
Valentine recognized the young man's hard work
ethic, and encouraged him to take on more
management duties. Valentine also encouraged
him to study the pharmacy texts kept at the store
in preparation for becoming a licensed
pharmacist. Walgreen acquired his first store in
1901. In 1902, Walgreen married Myrtle Norton
and began devoting his energies toward bettering
his business.
The young entrepreneur's strategy for growth was
two-fold. First, he emphasized customer service
and friendliness combined with professionalism,
a credo that separated Walgreen's drugstores from
the numerous other outfits in the city. Secondly,
he sought to innovate. An example of this was
the prominent role of the soda fountain in
Walgreen's stores, which at the time was
America's equivalent of a modern fast-food
restaurant. In 1920, one of Walgreen's employees
invented the milkshake.
Walgreen also sought to maintain a healthy work
environment for his employees. He achieved this
by including opportunities for partnerships at
every store, giving bonuses and stock offerings,
and promoting from within company ranks. The
company's turnover rate, then and now, remains
among the lowest in the retail sector.
On December 9, 1939, at the age of 66, Charles
Walgreen Sr. died of cancer. By this time, the
board of the Walgreen Co. had already elected his
son, Charles Jr., company president. Later, his
grandson, Charles R. Walgreen III, headed the
company for nearly three decades until his
retirement as chairman in 1999. The founder's
great-grandson, Kevin, is a senior vice president
with Walgreens today.
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