Fay's Drugs was opened in 1958 by the father & son team of Henry Panasci and Henry Jr, both graduates of the University of Buffalo's pharmacy school.
The first location was in Fairmount, New York, a suburb of Syracuse. Fearing "Panasci Drugs" wouldn't roll off the tongue, the Panascis decided to name it after Henry Jr's wife, Faye, dropping the "e" to save money on signage.
In 1996, Fay's Drugs was sold to JCPenney for $285 million in stock. JCPenney merged its drug operations into Eckerd in 1997.