K & B ARCHIVES, ADDENDUM 1

 

 

(Mss 313)

 

 

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

 

July 2003

 

 

Inventory

 

 

Summary

 

Historical Note

 

List of Series and Subseries

 

Container List

 

Index Terms

 

Index

 

Procedures for Requesting Special Collections Materials

 

 

 

Summary

 

 

Size:                          9 linear feet

 

Geographic

locations:                 Chiefly New Orleans, La.

 

Inclusive dates:      1946  - 1997

 

Summary:                Business records of K & B, Inc., formerly known as Katz & Besthoff, Limited, a chain of drug stores that operated from 1905 to 1997.  Headquartered in New Orleans, the company operated stores in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, as well.

 

Related

collections:              Karen Harris Collection of Printed Ephemera (Mss 303); K & B Archives (Mss 310); K & B Archives, Addendum 2 (Mss 314); K & B Archives, Addendum 3 (Mss 315)

 

Source:                     Gift, December 2002

 

Access:                     No restrictions

 

Citation:                    K & B Archives, Addendum 1, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

 

 

 

Historical Note

 

 

Katz & Besthoff, Ltd.—widely known as K & B, which became its corporate name in 1977, or KB for short—was born of a casual conversation that took place in April 1905 in Gustave Katz’s drug store at the intersection of St. Charles and Jackson Avenues.  After earning a degree at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in the early 1890s, Katz had returned to his native New Orleans and obtained a job at Eugene May’s drugstore at 601 Canal Street.  In 1896 the twenty-five-year-old struck out on his own.  Quickly his name became synonymous with integrity in business dealings, competitive prices, and accuracy in filling prescriptions, which were routinely checked by a second pharmacist.  Katz met Sydney Besthoff, the proprietor of a thriving drug store in Memphis, at the latter’s wedding to a New Orleans bride, and when the young couple decided to make their home in the city, he proposed a partnership.[1]

 

            Sydney Besthoff already had identified a site in the heart of the shopping district, and later in 1905 the new firm of Katz & Besthoff opened the doors of its store at 732 Canal Street.  The partners incorporated the contents of Katz’s store and adopted his practice of permitting his customers to open charge accounts and purchase goods on credit.  Katz handled the technical end of the business, managing the finances and watching over the pharmacy; Besthoff welcomed customers, monitored activity on the floor, and suggested fresh ideas.  He also contributed the first syllable of his surname to the firm’s slogan, “Only the Best.”  With a shared dedication, determination, and emphasis on quality, the partners prospered.  In 1910 they established a second store at 837 Canal Street.  Ten years later K & B ventured uptown, opening a third store at St. Charles and Louisiana Avenues, and in 1923 a fourth at South Carrollton Avenue and Oak Street.  Eighteen stores celebrated the fiftieth anniversary in 1955, the year in which K & B filled its ten millionth prescription.  Twenty years later the count had risen to forty-seven million.[2]

 

            In 1926 Sydney Besthoff died of a heart attack and his son, also a registered pharmacist who was familiar with the company, succeeded him.  After Gustave Katz died in 1940, the Besthoff family bought out the Katzes and became the sole owner.  The Katz name—or initial—remained part of the firm’s name, however, for as long as it stayed in business.  In 1962 management passed to Sydney Besthoff III, whose association with the business began in 1939 when, as a twelve-year-old, he worked in the new photofinishing operation, located in the store at 1011 Canal Street.  Under his leadership, K & B flourished as never before.  In 1966 the firm expanded beyond New Orleans, opening a store across Lake Pontchartrain in Slidell, then in Baton Rouge, then in other states.  Growth slowed considerably in the 1980s when the oil boom stopped booming but resumed in the 1990s with the acquisition of eight OSCO drug stores in Memphis, coming full circle to the city where the first Sydney Besthoff had begun.  When Rite Aid bought the chain in July 1997, it numbered one hundred eighty-six stores in six states (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as Louisiana), employing a staff of more than forty-eight hundred.  Over forty-two hundred of them stayed on with Rite Aid.[3]

 

            Endeavoring to give their clientele what they wanted, K & B adopted a broad-spectrum marketing strategy long before most drugstores did, selling everything from holiday decorations to garden hoses to tubes for 1950s televisions to home permanents to cigars to pet supplies, in addition to prescriptions and over-the-counter medications.  Although many of these goods came from national manufacturers, K & B marketed numerous products under its own brand.  The selection of K & B beverages, for example, included cola, beer, burgundy, port, and a whiskey called Sir Sidney.  The store brand appeared also on baby oil, aspirin, antihistamine, suppositories, nasal spray, sleeping pills, vitamins, bandages, antiseptic, cream for athlete’s foot, antacids, batteries, matches, camera film, clocks, pencils, ballpoint pens, hurricane tracking charts, and street maps with all the K & B stores marked, to name but a few.[4]

 

            One of the best examples of a native product was K & B ice cream, which came not only in the traditional flavors, but also in locally popular cherry vanilla, eggnog, and cream cheese.  Soda fountains had existed in New Orleans since at least the 1830s, and they enjoyed considerable patronage, especially during the hot months of long Louisiana summers; one version of the creation of the ice cream sundae holds that it originated in the Crescent City.  Because fewer cases of colds and flu occurred during the summertime, it was the pharmacy’s slack season, and income from the soda fountains supplemented the decline in revenue from prescriptions.  At K & B they offset each other so neatly that except in December, month-to-month revenues never varied more than five percent.[5]

 

            Several variations of the story of how purple became the company color exist.  One version dates the association with purple from 1908, another from 1911; surely it began in “the days before paper bags, when products purchased at a pharmacy would have been wrapped in brown kraft paper and tied with a string.  An unnamed New Orleans merchant had ordered a railroad car load of purple wrapping paper for a special promotion.  But when it arrived, the merchant didn’t like the color.  The paper was discounted below the cost of the regular kraft paper and K & B scooped it up.”  It was good advertising, for as customers carried their purple parcels home, everyone knew where they had shopped.  When the first shipment of purple paper ran out, more was ordered.  The color inspired a variation on the firm’s slogan: “If it’s purple on the outside, it’s only the BEST from Katz & BESThoff on the inside.”[6]  Purple became inextricably connected with the firm, which incorporated it in signs, packaging, and newspaper advertising.  The last of these uses caused the New Orleans Times-Picayune to be the nation’s biggest consumer of purple ink.  With so much purple everywhere, it is hardly surprising that its distinctive shade—“not quite lavender, not quite violet—has entered the local vocabulary as ‘K & B purple.’”[7]

 

At the same time Rite Aid acquired K & B, it also bought one hundred forty-six Harco Drug Stores, based in Alabama.  The two buyouts made the thirty-five-year-old chain the nation’s largest, with nearly four thousand drug stores in thirty-one states, and gave it a new presence on the Gulf Coast.  Separate purchase prices were not announced, but the combined cost of K & B and Harco approached $340,000,000.  For that sum of money, Rite Aid “[stood] to gain their $838,000,000 in sales[, $580,000,000 of which came from K & B,] without all of the additional management costs of running the stores.”  Although large chains had been gobbling up small, family-operated stores for years, New Orleans had largely resisted the trend.  Pharmacies, however, had something more than changing times with which to contend: changing health care.  “Analysts agree[d] that the growth of health maintenance organizations and other types of health care insurance plans commonly lumped under the banner ‘managed care’ . . . brought the small and mid-sized companies to the brink.”  Only large, high-volume chains could withstand the pricing pressure, and K & B was sold while it was still profitable.[8]

 

Writing in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Anne Rochell explained that “all the fuss over a dying drug store chain [was] because a battle for the soul of New Orleans was being waged, and, for the moment, the outsiders [were] winning.”  She noted that “To an outsider, the K & B drug stores here were nothing but boxy buildings with funny purple signs—a bit of an eyesore next to the mansions along St. Charles Avenue.  But natives loved them, and when . . . Rite Aid bought them out, many vowed they would never shop there again.”  Surprised by consumers’ devotion to the sign of the purple, Rite Aid officials proceeded more slowly than they had planned to introduce their own logo and slogan.  At some point during the years, however, K & B “became not only a trusted business establishment, but a cultural icon on the New Orleans landscape,” and customers became friends.[9]

 

Notes

 

Excerpted from a paper by Florence M. Jumonville, first presented at the Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 17, 2003.

[1]Sandie Gauthreaux, “A History of K&B,” The K&B Connection 8.1 (September 1997): 1, 3; New Orleans City Directory, 1896.  Based on records still possessed by K&B and on interviews with Sydney Besthoff III, Gauthreaux’s article began as a paper she wrote as a student at Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans.  It was published in its entirety in the final issue of The K&B Connection, a newspaper for employees.

2Gauthreaux, “History of K&B,” 1-2.

3Ibid., 1-3; James J. LeBlanc, “The End or the Beginning?,” The K&B Connection 8.1 (September 1997): 4; Gregory S. Nelson, “K&B Lives!,” University of New Orleans Magazine 28 (Fall 2002): 11; Betty Keith, quoted by Angus Lind, “Purple Prose: Whimsical Cookbook Is Fondly Recalled,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 17, 1998, p. E1 (quotation).

4Liz Scott, “Chemistry Set: How Mr. Katz and Mr. Besthoff Started an Empire,” New Orleans Magazine 32, no. 2 (November 1997), 21; Errol Laborde, “Purple Passion,” New Orleans Magazine 31, no. 12 (September 1997): 120.  This collection includes examples of most of the K&B products mentioned here, as well as others.

5Gauthreaux, “A History of K&B,” 1-2; Anne Cooper Funderburg, Sundae Best: A History of Soda Fountains (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 2002), 31, 63, 125; Scott, “Chemistry Set,” 20; James Slaton, “They All Screamed for K&B Ice Cream,” New Orleans Citibusiness 23 (September 15, 1997): 1, 42.

6Julie Landry, “K&B Purple Fading Away,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 31, 1997, p. 1G; Scott, “Chemistry Set,” 20; Nelson, “K&B Lives!,” 10-11, based on an interview with Sydney J. Besthoff III (quotation).

7Nelson, “K&B Lives!,” 10-11, based on an interview with Sydney J. Besthoff III; Anne Rochell, “The Americanization of New Orleans,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, June 21, 1998, p. 01C (quotation).

8King, “Retailing Giant Rite Aid to Buy K&B Drugs Inc.”; Rite Aid Corp., “History,” <http://www.riteaid.com/company_info/history.php>, accessed April 15, 2003; Ronette King, “Little Guys Struggle against Big Operators,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 30, 1997, p. A3 (first quotation); Kathy Finn, “Looking Beyond the Sale of K&B Drugstores,” New Orleans Citibusiness 25 (July 28, 1997): 1, 37 (second quotation).

9Rochell, “Americanization of New Orleans” (first and second quotations); “Purple Pros Know Where to Go Saturday,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 5, 1998, p. L15; Louisiana State Archives, “Louisiana’s Jewish Community: Katz & Besthoff,” <http://www.sec.state.la.us/archives/jewish/JHKB.HTM>, accessed April 12, 2003 (third quotation).

 

 

 

List of Series and Subseries

 

 

Series I.         K & B Auditors Reports

                                                            Subseries I.1    K & B, Limited and Subsidiaries

                                                            Subseries I.2 K & B Services, Incorporated.  Thrift Plan

                                                            Subseries I.3 Virginia Corporation (Formerly K & B Limited) and Subsidiaries

                                                            Subseries I.4                 K & B, Inc.  Savings Plan

                                                            Subseries I.5 K & B, Incorporated and Subsidiaries

                                                            Subseries I.6                          K & B Pension Plan

                                                            Subseries I.7             Katz & Besthoff Foundation

 

Series II.        K & B FYE Reports

                  Subseries II.1        [Compilation of reports]

                  Subseries II.2 Annual Vendor Payment Cooperative

 

Series III.       K & B Binders

 

Series IV.                                K & B, Inc. Savings Plan

                  Subseries IV.1                 Documents

                  Subseries IV.2                    Minutes

 

Series V.       Stockholders and Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

                  Subseries V.1           Katz & Besthoff, Inc.

                  Subseries V.2           K & B, Incorporated

                  Subseries V.3 K & B, Incorporated (Delaware)

                  Subseries V.4      Corporate Records (Last)

 

Series VI.      Report Files

 

 

 

Container List

 

 

Series I.         K & B Auditors Reports

 

                        Subseries I.1.  K & B, Limited and Subsidiaries

313-1                    September 30, 1990 and 1989

313-2                    September 30, 1989 and 1988

313-3                    September 30, 1988 and 1987

313-4                    September 30, 1987 and 1986

313-5                    September 30, 1985 and 1984

313-6                    September 30, 1984 and 1983

313-7                    September 30, 1983

 

                        Subseries I.2.  K & B Services, Incorporated.  Thrift Plan

313-8                    December 31, 1996 and 1995

313-9                    December 31, 1995, 1994, and 1993

313-10                  December 31, 1994, 1993, and 1992

313-11                  December 31, 1993, 1992, and 1991

313-12                  December 31, 1992 and 1991

313-13                  December 31, 1991 and 1990

313-14                  December 31, 1990 and 1989

313-15                  December 31, 1989 and 1988

313-16                  December 31, 1988 and 1987

313-17                  December 31, 1987 and 1986

313-18                  December 31, 1986 and 1985

313-19                  December 31, 1985 and 1984

313-20                  December 31, 1984 and 1983

313-21                  December 31, 1983 and 1982

313-22                  December 31, 1982 and 1981

313-23                  December 31, 1981 and 1980

 

                  Subseries I.3.  Virginia Corporation (Formerly K & B Limited) and Subsidiaries.  Consolidated Financial Statements

313-24                  September 30, 1993 and 1992

313-25                  September 30, 1992 and 1991

313-26                  September 30, 1991 and 1990

 

                        Subseries I.4.  K & B, Inc. Savings Plan.  Financial Statements

313-27                  December 31, 1997 and 1996

313-28                  December 31, 1996 and 1995

313-29                  December 31, 1995 and 1994

313-30                  December 31, 1994 and 1993

313-31                  December 31, 1993 and 1992

313-32                  December 31, 1992

 

                        Subseries I.5.  K & B, Incorporated and Subsidiaries.  Financial Statements

313-33                  September 30, 1996 and 1995

313-34                  September 30, 1995 and 1994

313-35                  September 30, 1994 and 1993

313-36                  September 30, 1993 and 1992

313-37                  September 30, 1992 and 1991

313-38                  September 30, 1991 and 1990

313-39                  September 30, 1990 and 1989

313-40                  September 30, 1989 and 1988

313-41                  September 30, 1988 and 1987 (copy 1)

313-42                  September 30, 1988 and 1987 (copy 2)

313-43                  September 30, 1987 and 1986

313-44                  September 30, 1986 and 1985 (copy 1, with supplemental information)

313-45                  September 30, 1986 and 1985 (copy 2)

313-46                  September 30, 1985 and 1984 (copy 1, with supplemental information)

313-47                  September 30, 1985 and 1984 (copy 2, with supplemental information)

313-48                  September 30, 1985 and 1984

313-49                  September 30, 1984 and 1983 (copy 1, with supplemental information)

313-50                  September 30, 1984 and 1983 (copy 2, with supplemental information)

313-51                  September 30, 1984 and 1983 (copy 3)

313-52                  September 30, 1983 and 1982 (copy 1, with supplemental information)

313-53                  September 30, 1983 and 1982 (copy 2, with supplemental information)

313-54                  September 30, 1983

313-55                  September 30, 1982 and 1981 (copy 1, with supplemental information)

313-56                  September 30, 1982 and 1981 (copy 2, with supplemental information)

313-57                  September 30, 1981 and 1980 (copy 1, with supplemental information)

313-58                  September 30, 1981 and 1980 (copy 2, with supplemental information)

313-59                  September 30, 1980 and 1979 (with supplemental information)

313-60                  September 30, 1979 and 1978 (with supplemental information)

313-61                  September 30, 1978 and 1977 (with supplemental information)

313-62                  September 30, 1977 (with supplemental information)

313-63                  September 30, 1976 (with supplemental information)

313-64                  September 30, 1975 (with supplemental information)

313-65                  September 30, 1974 (with supplemental information)

313-66                  September 30, 1973 and 1972 (with supplemental information)

313-67                  September 30, 1972 (with supplemental information)

313-68                  September 30, 1971 (with supplemental information)

313-69                  September 30, 1970 (with supplemental information)

313-70                  September 30, 1969 (with supplementary information)

313-71                  September 30, 1968

313-72                  September 30, 1967

 

                        Subseries I.6.  K & B Pension Plan.  Financial Statements

313-73                  December 31, 1990

313-74                  December 31, 1989

313-75                  December 31, 1988 and 1987

313-76                  December 31, 1987 and 1986

313-77                  December 31, 1986 and 1985

313-78                  December 31, 1985 and 1984

313-79                  December 31, 1984 and 1983

313-80                  December 31, 1983 and 1982

313-81                  December 31, 1982 and 1981

313-82                  December 31, 1981 and 1980

 

                        Subseries I.7.  Katz & Besthoff Foundation

313-83                  September 30, 1977

313-84                  September 30, 1976

313-85                  September 30, 1975

313-86                  September 30, 1974

313-87                  September 30, 1973 (with supplemental information)

313-88                  September 30, 1972 (with supplemental information)

313-89                  September 30, 1971 (with supplemental information)

313-90                  September 30, 1970 (with supplemental information)

313-91                  September 30, 1969

313-92                  September 30, 1968

313-93                  September 30, 1967

 

 

Series II.        K & B FYE Reports

 

                        Subseries II.1.  [Compilation of reports]

313-94                  9/30/90

313-95                  9/30/91

313-96                  9/30/92

313-97                  9/30/93

313-98                  1994

313-99                  1995

313-100               1996

 

                        Subseries II.2.  Annual Vendor Payment Cooperative

313-101               F/Y 1996

 

 

Series III.       K & B Binders

 

313-102               New Store Book

 

                              Store Rule Book

313-103                                                      A-K

313-104                                                       L-Z

 

                              Office Rule Book

313-105                                                      A-K

313-106                                                       L-Z

 

313-107               Personnel Manual

 

 

Series IV.      K & B, Inc.  Savings Plan

 

                        Subseries IV.1.  Documents

313-108               By-laws; financial information; 1991

 

                        Subseries IV.2.  Minutes

313-109               January 1994 – March 1995

 

 

Series V.       Minutes of Meetings, Stockholders and Board of Directors

 

                        Subseries V.1.  Katz & Besthoff, Inc.

                              Unnumbered Minute Book, January 1946 – September 1948

313-110                                 Folder 1, Index, 1946 – 1948

                              Minute Book #1, December 19, 1947 – December 26, 1956

313-111                                  Folder 1, Index, 1955-1956

313-112                                        Folder 2, 1951-1954

313-113                                        Folder 3, 1947-1950

                              Minute Book #2, January 16, 1957 – December 26, 1961

313-114                                       Folder 1, Index, 1961

313-115                                        Folder 2, 1959-1960

313-116                                        Folder 3, 1957-1958

                              Minute Book #3, January 30, 1962 – November 23, 1965

313-117                                       Folder 1, Index, 1965

313-118                                             Folder 2, 1964

313-119                                             Folder 3, 1963

313-120                                             Folder 4, 1962

                              Minute Book #4, January 8, 1966 – December 11, 1970

313-121                                       Folder 1, Index, 1970

313-122                                             Folder 2, 1969

313-123                                             Folder 3, 1968

313-124                                             Folder 4, 1967

313-125                                             Folder 5, 1966

                              Minute Book #5, January 30, 1971 – November 27, 1974

313-126                                       Folder 1, Index, 1974

313-127                                             Folder 2, 1973

313-128                                             Folder 3, 1972

313-129                                             Folder 4, 1971

                              Minute Book #6, December 20, 1974 – September 9, 1975

313-130               Folder 1, Index, July 2, 1975 – September 9, 1975

313-131                                       Folder 2, July 1, 1975

313-132                 Folder 3, December 20, 1974 – April 28, 1975

                              Minute Book #7, September 29, 1975 – November 2, 1977

313-133                       Folder 1, Index, June – November 1977

313-134                                Folder 2, January –May 1977

313-135                                             Folder 3, 1976

313-136               Folder 4, November 26, 1975 – December 27, 1975

313-137               Folder 5, November 28, 1975 (legal stenographer’s transcript)

313-138                         Folder 6, September – October 1975

313-139                             Folder 7, Articles of Incorporation

313-140                                          Folder 8, By-Laws

 

                        Subseries V.2.  K & B, Incorporated

                              Minute Book #8, November 30, 1977 – September 27, 1979

313-141               Folder 1, Index, September 3, 1979 (continued) – September 27, 1979

313-142                   Folder 2, July 17, 1979 – September 3, 1979

313-143                     Folder 3, January 5, 1978 – June 27, 1979

313-144                                   Folder 4, November 1977

                              Minute Book #9, Index, October 1, 1979 – November 13, 1980

313-145               Folder 1, Index, October 1, 1980 (continued) – November 13, 1980

313-146                   Folder 2, October 1, 1979 – October 1, 1980

                              Minute Book #10, November 26, 1980 – November 23, 1983

313-147                                       Folder 1, Index, 1983

313-148                                             Folder 2, 1982

313-149                     Folder 3, 1981

                              K & B, Limited.  Minute Book #11, November 1981 – November 1990 (Merged)

313-150                                 Folder 1, Index, 1981 – 1990

                              Minute Book #12, August 1984 – November 1987

313-151                              Folder 1, Index, November 1987

                                          Includes announcement of James J. Le Blanc’s appointment as President and Chief Operating Officer; K & B Thrift Plan

313-152                                             Folder 2, 1986

313-153                                             Folder 3, 1985

                                          Includes Third Amendment to Restatement of K & B Thrift Plan; Third Amendment, K & B Pension Plan

313-154                                             Folder 4, 1984

                              Minute Book #13, December 1987 – June 1993

313-155                         Folder 1, Index, February – June 1993

313-156                             Folder 2, June – December 1992

313-157                      Folder 3, August 1990 – December 1991

313-158                                             Folder 4, 1989

313-159                   Folder 5, December 1987 – December 1988

 

                        Subseries V.3.  K & B, Incorporated (Delaware)

                              Minute Book #14, June 1993 – July 1997

313-160                                        Folder 1, 1994-1997

313-161                                             Folder 2, 1993

                              Minute Book #15, October 1992 – November 1992

313-162                                             Folder 1, 1992

 

                        Subseries V.4.  Corporate Records (Last)

                              Minute Book #16, May 1978 – October 1996

313-163                                        Folder 1, 1978-1996

 

 

Series VI.      Report Files

 

313-164               Reports/Payroll

313-165               Reports/Store Sizes and Sales

313-166               Reports/Business Census

313-167               Reports/Sales Analysis

313-168               Reports/Annual Growth Review

313-169               Reports/Financial Measurements

313-170               Reports/Store Counts and History

313-171               Trademarks/Federal

313-172               Trademarks/Louisiana

313-173               K & B Telephone Directory & Store Roster

313-174               Personnel/Retirement Plan Costs

313-175               Personnel/Turnover Analysis

313-176               Insurance/General

313-177               Equipment/Sign Design

313-178               Reports/Rx Information

313-179               Pharmaceutical/Information/Annual

313-180               Pharmaceutical/Third Party Plans

 

 

 

 

Index Terms

 

 

Besthoff, Sydney

K & B Drug Stores (Firm)

Katz, Gustave

Pharmacy—Louisiana—New Orleans

 


Excerpted from a paper by Florence M. Jumonville, first presented at the Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 17, 2003.

[1]Sandie Gauthreaux, “A History of K&B,” The K&B Connection 8.1 (September 1997): 1, 3; New Orleans City Directory, 1896.  Based on records still possessed by K&B and on interviews with Sydney Besthoff III, Gauthreaux’s article began as a paper she wrote as a student at Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans.  It was published in its entirety in the final issue of The K&B Connection, a newspaper for employees.

[2]Gauthreaux, “History of K&B,” 1-2.

[3]Ibid., 1-3; James J. LeBlanc, “The End or the Beginning?,” The K&B Connection 8.1 (September 1997): 4; Gregory S. Nelson, “K&B Lives!,” University of New Orleans Magazine 28 (Fall 2002): 11; Betty Keith, quoted by Angus Lind, “Purple Prose: Whimsical Cookbook Is Fondly Recalled,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 17, 1998, p. E1 (quotation).

[4]Liz Scott, “Chemistry Set: How Mr. Katz and Mr. Besthoff Started an Empire,” New Orleans Magazine 32, no. 2 (November 1997), 21; Errol Laborde, “Purple Passion,” New Orleans Magazine 31, no. 12 (September 1997): 120.  This collection includes examples of most of the K&B products mentioned here, as well as others.

[5]Gauthreaux, “A History of K&B,” 1-2; Anne Cooper Funderburg, Sundae Best: A History of Soda Fountains (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 2002), 31, 63, 125; Scott, “Chemistry Set,” 20; James Slaton, “They All Screamed for K&B Ice Cream,” New Orleans Citibusiness 23 (September 15, 1997): 1, 42.

[6]Julie Landry, “K&B Purple Fading Away,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 31, 1997, p. 1G; Scott, “Chemistry Set,” 20; Nelson, “K&B Lives!,” 10-11, based on an interview with Sydney J. Besthoff III (quotation).

[7]Nelson, “K&B Lives!,” 10-11, based on an interview with Sydney J. Besthoff III; Anne Rochell, “The Americanization of New Orleans,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, June 21, 1998, p. 01C (quotation).

[8]King, “Retailing Giant Rite Aid to Buy K&B Drugs Inc.”; Rite Aid Corp., “History,” <http://www.riteaid.com/company_info/history.php>, accessed April 15, 2003; Ronette King, “Little Guys Struggle against Big Operators,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 30, 1997, p. A3 (first quotation); Kathy Finn, “Looking Beyond the Sale of K&B Drugstores,” New Orleans Citibusiness 25 (July 28, 1997): 1, 37 (second quotation).

[9]Rochell, “Americanization of New Orleans” (first and second quotations); “Purple Pros Know Where to Go Saturday,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 5, 1998, p. L15; Louisiana State Archives, “Louisiana’s Jewish Community: Katz & Besthoff,” <http://www.sec.state.la.us/archives/jewish/JHKB.HTM>, accessed April 12, 2003 (third quotation).