At its peak, the company operated more than 70 stores in small towns throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Aside from the pharmacy, the stores sold general items, as well as toys and Halloween and Christmas decorations.

Company president Stephen LaVerdiere cited repeal of the state's blue laws as a factor making it more difficult to compete with national chains: Our stores were specifically designed to be 5,000 sq.

Rite Aid's successor in Maine, Walgreens, continues to operate in many of the former LaVerdiere's locations to this day.

LaVerdiere's, and its somewhat infamous Halloween goods aisle,[3] were described in some detail in Stephen King's novella The Sun Dog: The LaVerdiere's Super Drug Store was really more of a jumped-up five-and-dime than anything else… [It] carried everything the old Ben Franklin had carried, but the goods were bathed in the pitiless light of Maxi-Glo fluorescent bars which gave every bit of stock its own hectic, feverish shimmer.