History
The company was co-founded in 1969 by Jean Coutu, as a pharmacy in the east end of Montreal.
The company became incorporated in 1973 under the name Services Farmico, enticed by the five branches already set up in Montreal. The name was changed 13 years later to its current name, the Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. and was put on the stock exchange. In 1982 it entered the New Brunswick market and then the Ontario market in 1983. Beginning in 1987, the company began a series of acquisitions that continues. Over the past 20 years, the Jean Coutu Group has acquired Cadieux drugstores, twelve Cloutier Pharmacy outlets, sixteen Douglas Drug Inc. outlets, 221 outlets of the Brooks Drug Store, Rite Aid drugstores, retail properties, eight Mayrand drugstores, 19 Cumberland stores and many more in the United States. The Jean Coutu Group was the first in Canada to set up an online service that allows customers to refill their prescriptions, then a year later expanded this concept in Quebec by having the same system but that could be done over the telephone. Some of the titles this corporation has earned include “Canada’s Most Respected Corporations”, and “The Most Admired Company in Quebec”, which it has won seven times.
With the majority of its franchises in Quebec, it is the province from which it receives most of its revenue, however it has gotten a great deal of profit from the United States. The main competition are Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart, Wal-Mart, Familiprix, Brunet and Uniprix.
Since the end of the 1980s, the corporation has merged and acquired much of its competition. It has become one of the leading companies in Quebec and has been growing throughout the other provinces and into the United States because of its successful integration of acquisitions. There are many different trademarks and they are continuously increasing due to these mergers. Jean Coutu is a public company and is listed under PJC.A.TO. on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Recently news has been spreading that Jean Coutu will be launching an e-commerce project. According to rumours this program will be based out of the Hawkesbury, Ontario distribution centre and is set to launch at the end of 2012. However nothing official has been announced as of yet and the topic returns no results when searched online. So until an official announcement is made public by the Jean Coutu Corporation, it remains just a rumour.
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