Classic LaVerdiere’s Halloween Commercials Every Mainer Remembers

Now THIS is old school spooky, Maine!

Any old school Mainer remembers LaVerdiere's Super Drug Stores. At its peak, the company operated more than 70 stores in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

LaVerdiere’s began in 1922 in Waterville, Maine, starting out as a small newsstand and soda fountain, later becoming a full drug store.

Aside from the pharmacy, the stores sold general items, as well as toys and Halloween and Christmas decorations. In the 1980s, some LaVerdiere's locations featured an arcade, called Action Family Arcade. The company was purchased by Rite Aid, back in 1994.

I spent many a teenage afternoon there in the Action Family Fun Arcade. We always had a plan. Walk from the tree streets in Bangor, up Broadway, hit LaVerdiere's arcade, fill the Air Hockey machine with about twenty bucks full of quarters, proceed to do battle and annoy everyone else in the room, then walk up Broadway, all the way to the Dairy Queen, fill the jukebox up with even more quarters playing the hits of the day, then ordering a 'Full Meal Deal" which consisted of a brazier burger, fries, a soda, then best of all, a hot fudge sundae.

I also have another fond memory of LaVerdiere's, because one of my childhood buddies, Mark, worked at the downtown location when he was a junior at Bangor High School. Boy did we give him a had time whenever he put that lame smock on.

LaVerdiere's were always famous for their Halloween and Christmas TV ads, and through the magic of YouTube, we found two spooky ads from 1989 and 1992.