furniture chain This End Up (sold in 1995), the footwear chain, Footaction (spun off in 1996), along with Linens-n-Things, Kay-Bee Toys and Bob’s Stores (apparel and footwear), which were all sold or spun off by 1997. After this, Melville was renamed CVS and a major consolidation took place in the drugstore industry, merging these two entities and forming what is now the CVS Corporation.CVS was not finished with building its empire and in 1997 acquired Revco D.S., which had nearly 2600 stores in 17 states, mainly the Midwest and Southeast. The next year, bought Arbor Drugs with 200 stores in Michigan. CVS paid a combined total of $5.2 billion to acquire these stores and add them to their already 1,425 stores in operation. In acquiring Arbor Stores, CVS got nearly fifty percent of the market share in the lucrative metro Detroit market and a strategic network of store locations. This move bumped Chicago-based Walgreen Co. from the No.1 ranking in the drugstore industry and upstaged Walgreen’s recent debut in the metro Detroit. The metro Detroit area spends about $2 billion a year in drugstores - the fourth highest spending level nationwide. CVS is still not in the 48 out of the 100 drugstore markets and new markets such as Chicago, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Grand Rapids help to get them there (Merrill Lynch).The key to the company’s continued growth has been a subsidiary called PharmaCare Management Services, which provides prescription benefit management services. In addition, CVS has recently begun the operation of CVS ProCare pharmacies that cater to customers that require complex drug therapies such as treatments for HIV and infertility. This taps into the $11 billion “specialty prescription market.” ProCare will establish apothecaries separate from CVS stores and staff them with qualified personnel who can dispense the prescriptions and devote time to answering questions (Trantum).CVS...
