Company History

Bartell Drugs: Growing and changing with Puget Sound area neighborhoods since 1890

SEATTLE--Three generations of Bartells have more than a name and a business in common--they also share a focus on continuous innovation and customer service. With 58 stores in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, Bartell Drugs has the unique distinction of being the oldest family-owned drugstore chain in the nation.

It began in 1890, when 21-year-old George H. Bartell, Sr. worked his way from Kansas to Seattle. He was eventually hired as a pharmacist at the Lake Washington Pharmacy and two weeks later bought the business—starting a 122-year tradition of service to Puget Sound area neighborhoods.

His son, the late George H. Bartell, Jr., led the company through the 1950s—when the automobile was changing the face of retailing. Through his initiatives, the company began adapting to new consumer preferences built around suburban living.

Today, the third generation is firmly in place with Chairman & Chief Executive Officer George D. Bartell and Vice Chairman and Treasurer Jean Bartell Barber. Through their leadership, Bartells continues to provide new ways to serve customers including the introduction of “next generation” store interior concepts, a new feature-rich website for customer convenience, and the latest digital technology for in-store photo processing and photo products.

A youthful pharmacist goes west

George H. Bartell, Sr. had trained as an apprentice pharmacist in his native Kansas but soon headed west to make his fortune. He made his way to Seattle in 1887 and worked at a series of odd jobs, including real estate and fill-in pharmacy work, until he found steady work at the Lake Washington Pharmacy. The physician who owned the pharmacy had grown tired of the business and agreed to sell it to Bartell – only two weeks after he went to work there. Bartell lived in the back of the store (in what was possibly the first “24-Hour pharmacy”) and worked long hours filling prescriptions and tending to customers. Though business was brisk, his health was suffering as a result of the long hours and non-stop work.

Klondike gold rush ushers in dramatic changes

His life changed dramatically, as it did for hundreds of other people, when he left his business in the hands of his capable assistant and answered the call to head north to Alaska to search for gold in 1897. Bartell didn’t find much Klondike gold, but he did find a new purpose when he returned to Seattle in 1898. He had renewed health and a new business plan to open several downtown stores--where he would offer products at discount prices.

In 1904, The Bartell Drug Company was formally incorporated. Over the next 35 years, Bartell opened 18 stores throughout Seattle. His stores became some of the first in the West to offer in-store soda fountains and film development. The company grew to operate its own photo lab, candy factory (which provided most of the candy items sold in the stores, from its famous Bartell Peanut Brittle to hand-dipped chocolate cherries) and commissary for soups and the like that were sold at the stores’ lunch counters.

The next generation comes of age

George H. Bartell, Jr., who had worked his way up in the company since starting as a warehouseman, was elected president of the company in 1939. However, his first executive decision had come years before he went to work for the company. The younger Bartell was in elementary school when his father asked him a question that forever changed his life: Should the Bartell Drug Company be sold to a rival drugstore chain? The youngster didn’t hesitate: He said no. His father agreed and today the company is the oldest drugstore chain in the nation.

In the years following World War II, several stores were opened and in 1950 Bartells became the first drugstore located in a major regional shopping center—Seattle’s Northgate Mall. The next few years were a period of restructuring for the company. The old downtown locations were obsolete, thanks to the post-war suburban expansion and a shift from urban living and mass transit, to reliance upon the automobile. Bartell began closing stores that had no off-street parking and opened stores in places like Burien and Bellevue. Stores were remodeled to remove soda fountains – doomed by the rise of fast-food restaurants – and install more self-serve shelves and displays.

The Bartell chain was reduced to 12 stores by the mid-1960s but it had reorganized its stores and merchandising strategy to enable it to once again compete strongly.

The family takes Bartells into the 21st century

After 51 years at the head of the company, George H. Bartell, Jr. stepped down and his son, George D. Bartell, was elected president in 1990. Like his father, George D. Bartell had learned the business from the ground up. He continues to carry on the family tradition of offering exceptional customer service and affordable prices to their customers while maintaining a neighborhood focus.

Together, the Bartell family and employee associates have built an extremely successful company, one that strives to satisfy its customers by offering them personalized service and by providing its employee associates a stable and rewarding work environment.

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Media Contacts

Theron Andrews, V.P. of Marketing,
Bartell Drugs, 206.763.2626

Barry Bartlett
Bartlett Group Public Relations
206.335.4694, barry@bartlettgrouppr.com