Though Walgreen was trained as a pharmacist, he was an equally astute businessman. Walgreen personally manufactured some of his drugs in order to be able to maintain profitable low prices, and he also offered Walgreens branded merchandise and other services in his stores, most notably the lunch counter and soda fountain, things that became staples in his “super-drug stores.” Capitalizing on the popularity of these huge stores and their more interactive shopping environment, Walgreen had, by the time of his death, built almost 500 stores and increased his company’s net worth from $85,700 to over $24 million.