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Revco D.S., Inc. has requested Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission approval to divest pharmacy assets in Revco drug stores in Marion and Covington, Virginia, to Steve's Pharmacy, Inc. The assets to be divested, formerly owned by Hook-SupeRx, Inc., are located in the stores on Highway 11 East in Marion, and at 1268 S. Craig Avenue in Covington. The assets will be operated as ongoing pharmacy businesses at these locations. The application will be subject to public comment for 30 days, until July 17.

Revco is based in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Steve's is based in Morristown, Tennessee.

Prior FTC approval of the divestiture is required under an October 1994 consent order settling allegations that Revco's acquisition of Hook-SupeRx could substantially reduce competition -- and thus raise prices and reduce service -- for prescription drugs sold in retail stores in Covington, Marion and Radford, Virginia. The order permitted Revco to go ahead with the acquisition, but requires it to divest either its own pharmacy business, or the pharmacy business it acquired from Hook-SupeRx, in each of the three towns to an entity or enti- ties that will operate them as ongoing, viable pharmacy busi- nesses. The goal of the order is to restore the competition allegedly lost in the merger. The FTC already has approved the two required divestitures in Radford, Virginia, to Rite Aid Corporation.

Comments on the application should be sent to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

Copies of the application, as well as the October 1994 consent order and other documents associated with this case, are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

(FTC Docket No. C-3540)