LITTLE ROCK — Walgreens of Deerfield, Ill., announced Thursday it will buy Stephen L. LaFrance Holdings Inc.’s regional drugstore chain, which is headquartered in Little Rock and Pine Bluff and includes USA Drug and Super D Drug stores.
The $438 million deal, which must meet regulatory requirements, includes the purchase of 144 drugstores currently operated by USA Drug, Super D Drug, May’s Drug, Med-X and Drug Warehouse in Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
The deal also includes corporate offices, a distribution center in Pine Bluff and a wholesale and private brand business.
Michael Polzin, spokesman for Walgreens, said USA Drug has 47 stores in Arkansas and 1,347 employees.
The sale is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, Polzin said. The USA Drug stores will remain open at their current locations until at least Sept. 1 but no decisions had been made on whether those stores will remain open after that or how many employees will be hired by Walgreens, he said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Over the short term, we will keep them with their current branding and then once we actually close on the transaction … then we’ll start going through and determining how we want to handle the branding over the long term,” Polzin said. “We hope to retain those employees for as long as we can continue to operate each location or each business.”
Walgreens is the nation’s largest drug chain and last year had sales of $72 billion. It operates 7,890 drug stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
USA Drug and the other drugstores in the chain recorded sales of $825 million last year, according to a Walgreens news release.
The first USA Drug store opened in Pine Bluff in 1984.
Walgreens President and CEO Gregory D. Wasson said the purchase “expands our business in an important region of the country.”
Stephen L. LaFrance, chairman and owner of Stephen L. LaFrance Holdings, said in a release the decision to sell to Walgreens was made “not only because it is the premier drugstore company in our industry, but also because Walgreens will continue to provide our customers with the service and products they have come to expect.”
LaFrance did not immediately return a telephone call seeking additional comment.
Polzin said he did not know if Walgreens would begin accepting customers with military insurance, known as TRICARE, after the purchase of USA Drug is completed.
Walgreens accepted TRICARE insurance until Jan. 1. USA Drug currently accepts the military insurance.
Polzin said he expects USA Drug to continue honoring TRICARE until Sept. 1, but no final decision has been made on whether the stores will continue accepting the insurance after the sale is finalized.