[1] In 1955, he and his wife, cosmetician Gloria Haft, opened the first drug discount store, Dart Drug in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[1] He quickly ran into problems as consumer goods wholesalers and pharmaceutical distributors refused to sell to him because his prices were lower than their other customers.

[1] Haft unsuccessfully sued until Parke-Davis - at the time one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. - was charged by the Justice Department with price-fixing.

[1] He also founded (with family members) Trak Auto, Combined Properties,[3] and acquired part of Total Beverage and Shoppers Food Warehouse.

Haft's Dart Group earned $250 million through greenmail and stock sales during unsuccessful takeover attempts of retailers Safeway and Stop & Shop.

In a 1986 speech to a group of George Washington University alumni, Haft said that the secret of his success, was to borrow big: "If you owe someone several thousand dollars, you can't always sleep at night.

[1] He and his family were engaged in a long-standing and bitter feud[4] that culminated in his deathbed marriage to Myrna C. Ruben and the exclusion of his children from his will.