Kerr fortifies position with store sale to CVS.(My Turn)(Kerr Drug Stores Inc.)(CVS Caremark Corp.)

Last anyone misinterpret the recent sale of 11 Kerr Drug stores in Charleston, S.C., to CVS Caremark Corp., let's be clear: The sale has left Kerr, one of the most successful and innovative regional drug chains in the United States, in the strongest position it has enjoyed in the 12 years since a group led by Tony Civello, the retailer's estimable CEO, acquired the company.

The sale, announced earlier this month, removes Kerr from South Carolina, a peripheral state for the now 90-store drug chain, freeing the company to concentrate all its considerable health care efforts and energies in its home state of North Carolina.

According to Civello, the sale is "the final step in a …