200 Wilmot Rd., Deerfield 60015, 708-940-2500
– Founded: 1901
– Fiscal year-end: Aug. 31
– Chief executive
Charles R. Walgreen III, 56, since 1971
1991 cash compensation: $1,165,692
Shares owned: 818,439 of 123 million common shares
– Employees: 51,366; 12,106 in Illinois
– Foreign sales: None of $6.7 billion total in 1991
– May 1, 1992 value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased May 1, 1991: $1,033
Purchased May 1, 1987: $1,992
– The graying of America will continue to benefit Walgreen`s, the country`s premier drug retailer. While other drugstore chains are struggling to recover from ill-conceived decisions to diversify, Walgreen`s recorded its 17th consecutive year of uninterrupted growth in 1991.
– While same-store sales growth has slowed to single-digit increases from double-digit increases of the past few years, the company`s prospects for the remainder of the decade remain strong. This year alone the company plans to open 130 additional stores and remodel another 65. By the end of the decade the company plans to operate 3,000 stores. It operated almost 1,650 stores at the end of fiscal 1991.
– Technology has taken firm hold of the company. A computerized ordering system can now determine the quantity of stock needed in each store based upon sales, and a customer`s prescription record can be accessed from anywhere in the country. Less shelf space is being given to housewares and more to health- care products, including Walgreen`s private-label lines, which it promotes heavily.
