Rexall

Rexall is Canada's second-largest pharmacy chain, with a history stretching back to 1904 and nearly 400 locations across the country today. The modern Canadian chain was built by Daryl Katz, who founded Katz Group in 1991 by acquiring the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy franchise rights for $300,000 in partnership with his father Barry. Through the mid-1990s, Katz purchased the fading Rexall drugstore chain and in 1997 acquired the 143-store Pharma Plus chain from the Oshawa Group for $100 million, consolidating everything under the Rexall banner. McKesson Corporation acquired the chain in 2016, and Birch Hill Equity Partners completed its purchase of Rexall in December 2024.

Pharmacy and Beyond

Rexall operates under the Rexall and Rexall Pharma Plus banners with approximately 8,000 employees serving 180 communities across Canada. Beyond traditional prescription services, Rexall has expanded into pharmacist-led healthcare with Pharmacist Care Walk-In Clinics — the first opened in Barrie, Ontario in April 2024. The chain offers vaccinations, virtual pharmacy consultations, digital prescription management, and lab result access through its Be Well app and loyalty program, launched in September 2020 as what the company calls Canada's most health-focused loyalty program.

Building a Canadian Pharmacy

The Katz Group era transformed Rexall through aggressive acquisition, including Drug Trading Co. (which operated Guardian and I.D.A. banners) and Dell Pharmacies in Ontario. The I.D.A. and Guardian businesses were later sold to McKesson for $900 million in 2012. At its peak under Katz, Rexall operated 470 locations. The chain is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, and is led by president Nicolas Caprio.

Caring for Canadians

Rexall's stated purpose is "caring for Canada's health, one person at a time." For Canadians, Rexall provides a pharmacy chain with expanding healthcare services, competitive pricing on front-of-store products, and a rewards program that integrates prescription management, health metrics tracking, and everyday shopping into a single platform.