Read's Drug Store

Read's Drug Store was a chain of stores based in Baltimore, Maryland. Read's Drug Store was founded by William Read. He sold it to the Nattans family in 1899. The downtown store was constructed in 1934 by Smith & May, Baltimore architects also responsible for the Bank of America building at 10 Light St. In 1929, one company slogan was "Run Right to Reads." Read's was purchased from the Nattans by Rite Aid in 1983.

In 2023, Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid several opioid lawsuits and declining sales. Despite Read's shutting down 40 years prior to the filing, Read's was still listed in the bankruptcy filing.

The downtown store was the site of an early sit-in during the Civil Rights Movement. Read's downtown Baltimore location has since closed, leaving behind an empty building. There is currently a controversy over whether to raze this building for development or preserve it and turn it into a civil rights museum. The store's 1955 sit-in also occurred five years before the more recognized, but also similar, student-led 1960 Greensboro sit-ins.