He would love talking to the people and seeing what was going on. He said it was his favorite day of the week," said John Gans, a family friend for 52 years, and now the chain's president. Boodjeh was born in Iran. He came to the United States at the age of He moved to Ohio and the Toledo area to attend college.
His ambition was to be a doctor. That changed to pharmacist after he got married and his first child was born. After graduation in , he worked at a Jay Drug Store in the Cleveland area and became a partner in the operation. Soon after the company was sold, Boodjeh opened the Drug Mart in Elyria.
The company has been headquartered in Medina since the mids. It employs 3, people. Founded: , by pharmacist Parviz Boodjeh. First store was in Elyria. Retail Stores: 74, from Ashtabula to Sandusky to Columbus. Employees: More than 3,, including pharmacists. Headquarters: Commerce Drive, Medina.
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Subscribe today. By Janet H. So he opted to add to his store's shelves the hardware and parts needed to fix such items and found that this enhanced his recipe for success.
Boodjeh's concept of one-stop shopping was well received, paving the way for three additional stores by Discount Drug's wider array of product selection required more space than that of competitors' stores, which averaged from 8, to 12, square feet. Indeed, Discount Drug required almost twice that amount of space, presenting a particular challenge for Boodjeh as he sought to expand his chain.
In Boodjeh leased five of these stores, more than doubling the chain of outlets to nine, each averaging around 16, square feet. Also during this time, Discount Drug announced its entrance into the Cleveland drug store market. In the early s, Boodjeh began standardizing the merchandise offerings among his growing chain and commissioned an architect to develop a store design on which all Discount Drug stores would be based.
A 22, square foot model was produced and adopted, and this design was later modified and enlarged to 24, square feet, making room for new product lines and a video rental business. Also during the s, computer technology helped the chain distinguish itself as an innovator, with such in-store additions as electronic price scanners, which not only facilitated the check out process but also generated reports to management on product sales and reordering needs. Discount Drug also turned to computers to help map out new store displays.
Using a planogram known in the industry as a Pegman , Discount Drug computers showed store managers where and how products should be displayed. By the late s, Discount Drug was recognized as one of the hardest working chains in the country. In it ranked 34th in sales according to a Chain Store Guide list of the top drug chains. However, the early s brought intense competition to the industry. Discount Drug was still smaller than the Ohio drug store chains of Revco and Phar-Mor, and even these chains were being threatened by the superstore concept as championed by Kmart, Wal-Mart, and Target, which were all expanding at a breakneck pace.
In response, Boodjeh eschewed the aggressive marketing strategy of his competition, remaining content with gradual, steady growth averaging three to five new stores per year. Such conservative growth proved a successful strategy. Moreover, instead of looking to grow in areas that already featured competitors' stores, he focused on pinpointing locations that needed a discount drug retailer. Each new Discount Drug site was carefully selected to meet his specific criteria: it had to be close to the street and located near other successful businesses to ensure customer draw.
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