Private company

G. O. Guy

Drugstore chain in Seattle, Washington

G.O. Guy was a small chain of drugstores located in the Seattle area of the U.S. state of Washington. The chain was founded in 1888 by George Omar Guy. Throughout the early 20th century, G.O. Guy's was the second largest drug store chain in Seattle behind Bartell Drugs and predated it by two years.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Seattle - G.O. Guy ghost sign on Metropole Building 01
Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

G.O. Guy was a small chain of drugstores located in the Seattle area of the U.S. state of Washington. The chain was founded in 1888 by George Omar Guy. Throughout the early 20th century, G.O. Guy's was the second largest drug store chain in Seattle behind Bartell Drugs and predated it by two years. In 1987 Pay 'n Save purchased all six locations and converted most of them to Pay 'n Save express stores, slightly smaller than full service stores. Pay 'n Save was bought by Thrifty PayLess which in turn was bought by Rite Aid.2

The story

Many modern sources give the location of the first store as the H. K. Owens / Metropole Building at Second Avenue and Yesler Way, however contemporary sources indicate that Guy's first store was actually located about two blocks south, at Occidental Avenue and Main Street. For example, Guy's January 31, 1927, obituary in the Seattle Daily Times, reads:

Mr. Guy started his drug business at the corner of Occidental Avenue and Main Street. After the great fire a year later [i.e. in 1889], which demolished his store, he resumed business in a tent at First Avenue and Main Street and in 1893 occupied, at Second Avenue and Yesler Way, the present site of the drug company.

A Times article from 1934 gives further details of the several years following the fire:

Guy's first thought was for the medicines, and he saved them to establish headquarters in a first-aid tent, where he stayed until a frame building was finished at Fourth Avenue and Main Street... Later he moved to First Avenue and Main Street and, in 1893, he moved to Second Avenue and Yesler Way. There the store still stands.

From Wikipedia’s article on G. O. Guy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Locations included, but not limited to:

Second Avenue and Yesler Way

725 3rd Avenue, also described as the corner of 3rd Avenue and Columbia

1401 3rd Avenue in the Mann Building also described as the corner of 3rd Avenue and Union, opposite the post office

Read the full text

406 Broadway East, also described as corner Broadway and Harrison and as 406 North Broadway

4501 University Way

4700 California Avenue SW

2238 Market Street

4002 Roosevelt Way

518 Queen Anne Avenue

1928 3rd Avenue, also described as corner of 3rd Avenue and Virginia Street in the Security Market Building

1024 Madison Street

4002 10th Ave NE at north end of University Bridge

4727 California Avenue SW

427 2nd Avenue South

3600 South Village Mall

From Wikipedia’s article on G. O. Guy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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