Are there still corner drugstores?

[DainBramaged]

I saw a description of a product which said it is available at all corner drugstores. But there aren't any corner drug stores where I live. There are Walgreen's, Drug Fair, Rite Aid, CVS, big chains, no little guys that I know of.


Another segment of my youth gone.


:cry:

[femmocrat]

1. There are still a few privately-owned drug stores here.

One even delivers! :)

[babylonsister]

2. I don't miss them; most everything is pretty anonymous

nowadays, but I don't live in a town where you can walk the block and pick up what you need. :shrug:

Hell, I don't live near enough to anything to walk anywhere, and haven't for years. That is sad.

[pocoloco]

8. You are kidding?

You don't miss the Soda Fountains?

[babylonsister]

11. I'm not kidding, and I never in my youth lived near a

soda fountain. I always lived too far away to enjoy small town life.

Maybe that's why I don't miss it.

[Hangingon]

43. Growing up in the '50s in Dallas there were drugstores

with soda fountains. Skillerns was a small local chain. One independent was THE after school gathering spot. Corpus Christi still has at least one - Hamlin's - and it has a traditional soda fountain. Sad they are all being swallowed up by big chains.

[MajorChode]

12. Not so much, I have my own

All it takes is a seltzer bottle, various flavorings, and sweetener.

What's interesting is that even the big name pharmacies still carry many of the products that were traditionally carried at the mom and pop stores. For instance, you can still buy pipes and pipe tobacco at them. You can also have your pharmacist special order all sorts of things, just like the mom and pop stores could.

[starroute]

39. When did they ever had soda fountains in drugstores?

When I was a kid in New York the 50's, there were drugstores -- small storefront operations with a pharmacist behind the counter and shelves of non-prescription drugs on the opposite wall and nothing else.

The soda fountain was part of the newsstand/candy store.

Where were you that it was different?

[pocoloco]

46. Most small towns in Texas had a drugstore with a soda fountain,

some with a grill. The pharmacist was usually located at the very back of the drugstore.

[MajorChode]

48. I remember them well

Many were still there well into the 60's and 70's. It wouldn't surprise me if a few survived although I don't know of any drugstores that still have them.

The original Dr. Pepper factory in Dublin has an old style soda fountain in the store next to the factory. It's worth checking out if you're in the area.

[MajorChode]

49. Many of the soft drinks we have today were born in drug stores

The tradition goes back to the 18th century. Mineral water was seen as medicinal hundreds of years ago and some smart feller figured out how to mass market it to areas that didn't have mineral springs. Birch beer, sarsaparilla, and root beer were all early 'medicinal' beverages sold at pharmacies. Dr. Pepper, Coke, Pepsi, and many others were first formulated by pharmacists.

I don't know how things worked back east, but soda jerks in pharmacies down south were commonplace for many years.

[starroute]

51. Thanks -- I'm learning a lot from this

I suppose it would also explain why sodas are called "tonics" up in Boston.

So now I'm starting to think that New York may have been the odd one out -- and I'm wondering why.

Come to thin of it, though, my local soda fountain was always more about milkshakes and malteds than about sodas -- though you could certainly get a Coke, with the syrup pumped from a spigot and served in one of those traditional Coke glasses with the metal holders.

Here's a History of the Milkshake page (http://www.ehow.com/about_5377871_history-milkshake.html) that says, "The milkshake as we know it today may have had many creators, but the one who put the frozen drink on the map was Ivar "Pop" Coulson, who worked at a Walgreen's in Chicago. In 1922, he took a traditional malted milk and added a couple of scoops of ice cream. The treat took off in popularity, especially among young people, as the number of soda fountains in cities and small towns grew across the nation. Around that same time, the motorized blender was invented."

So that certainly places the origin of the milkshake in a Walgreen's drugstore.

And Wikipedia says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_fountain) "In their heyday, soda fountains flourished in pharmacies, ice cream parlors, candy stores, dime stores, department stores, milk bars and train stations. They served an important function as a public space where neighbors could socialize and exchange community news. In the early 20th century, many fountains expanded their menus and became lunch counters, serving light meals as well as ice cream sodas, egg creams, sundaes, and the like."

Oh -- seeing the mention of egg creams reminds me that was always my mother's favorite soda fountain drink. And here's what Wikipedia says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_cream) about that: "An egg cream is a classic beverage consisting of chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer, probably dating from the late 19th century, and is especially associated with Brooklyn, home of its alleged inventor, candy store owner Louis Auster. It contains neither eggs nor cream. ... The Brooklyn Egg Cream consisted of chocolate syrup while the New York Egg Cream used vanilla syrup. The vanilla egg cream was offered for 5 cents in the 1950s and 1960s at classic Manhattan candy and newspaper shops in Yorkville and East Harlem."

So, yes, candy and newspaper shops in New York -- but goodness knows why.

[Jennicut]

3. Try this website for regional/local drugstores in your area.

http://www.cornerdrugstore.com/

There is less of them know but there are some. I found one 25 minutes away from me on the website.

[DainBramaged]

9. There are no listings within 5 miles of my zip code

There are no listings within 10 miles of my zip code

There are no listings within 15 miles of my zip code

I found one 23.4 miles from my town






:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Jennicut]

13. It is a shame, isn't it. Only one almost 25 miles away!

[TreasonousBastard]

16. That missed three I know of within 10 miles of me....

one's right here in town within walking distance.

[hobbit709]

26. It's not totally accurate

It says there are none with 10 miles of my zip code and I know of at least two.

[MichiganVote]

4. We have one in our small town but I'm sure its a struggle for the owners.

[uppityperson]

5. We've one, complete with soda fountain. If you can't find something elsewhere in town, try there

[AspenRose]

33. Ooh, now I haven't seen one with a soda fountain since I was 4 or 5.

I'm impressed!

[depakid]

6. There are in Australia

butchers, vegetable stands, and fix it shops too that repair everything from shoes to jewelry.

[SoCalDem]

24. Don;t let them get away from you...once they are gone, you'll never get them back.. n/t

[depakid]

27. For sure- another surprising thing is that we have old fashioned news stands

called "newsagents" in every town and suburb.

Aussies love their papers and their "glossy" magazines.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Walgreens

They are on nearly every corner here.

[FLyellowdog]

10. Yes, there is one in my home town. nt

[Doremus]

14. I wonder what happened to the one in Stamford Texas.

Even as recently as the early 1980s it was still there, with its marble top soda fountain and cast iron stools.

[EFerrari]

15. One of the last small drug store owners in San Francisco told me

it took him more than two years to get reimbursed by Medicare and Medical. I don't even know if he's still open or not.

On the other hand, the Walgreens down the street routinely mislabeled meds they did up for Doug and I couldn't even get anyone at the state level to take a complaint about this hazardous situation.

Small businesses are a miracle any more.

[SoCalDem]

23. Our neighborhood drug stores DELIVERED...for free

and they had a 24 hr phone number for emergency prescriptions

[Scruffy1]

17. I know of a great one.

As a matter of fact I'll see if I can post up some pictures of it in a day or so.

[drm604]

18. The CVS I use is on a corner.

That would make it a "corner drugstore" wouldn't it? But somehow I don't think that's what you mean.

[DainBramaged]

30. It's not. Do thay have postcards from there? A polished wood counter?

Does it smell like Vicks Vapo rub?

:cry:

[drm604]

44. I think you mean "family owned" or "locally owned" or "non-chain" drugstore.

Whether or not it's on a corner seems irrelevant to me.

[Blue Diadem]

19. I know of 3, all in small towns. Our insurance won't allow us to use them

anymore for our prescriptions. So we have to travel more than 20 miles round-trip to get our 'scripts filled.

[w8liftinglady]

20. yes..i use this one-on purpose

http://www.rayspharmacy.com/

[azul]

21. Hi-o hi-o. I'm working at the corner drug tomorrow.

Been there for 25 years now. Charge accounts, delivery, they are the last in town and are surviving. The prescriptions in the basement go back to 1890's and they are a trip to read - they would only do 5-10 per day and were totally compounded.

[defendandprotect]

22. Don't know if many understand what all these drugstores used to do . . .

actually give remedies -- for coughs -- for menstrual cramps* -- the'd even bandage a wound for you!

They also always had great telephone booths!



* This was a tiny bottle of a very concentrated kind of strong pepperminty -- or something

like that -- ingredient. Green. You just took a tiny sip and it warmed up your stomach --

presumably released muscules and within 10 mins or so you were cramp free!!

[HopeHoops]

25. There's one in Camp Hill, PA called Cumbarland Apothecary

And yes, it is on a corner. It even has a web site on cornerdrustore.com: www.cumberlandapothecary.com. Look up your area to see if there are any near you.

[Tracer]

28. Yes there are.

In my town, there is a CVS and a Rite Aid within a quarter of a mile from each other.

Yet, two young brothers opened up their own pharmacy in between the above two.

I go to the brother's pharmacy. I prefer to support local businesses and these two guys know me by name. I can't say that about CVS or Rite Aid.

[williesgirl]

29. We have one and I've been using them exclusively since moving here 7 yrs ago! Love the

personal service and their prices are lower than the big guys. Yet, not only have they stayed in business, they had to move to larger facilities! rec'd

[Evasporque]

31. Sort of...there are still drug dealers on the corner....nt

[AspenRose]

32. Yep, but not too many

[LeftishBrit]

34. Corner pharmacies are still pretty common in the UK

Certainly where I live. There is one virtually next door to me, and another one 5 minutes' walk away.

[mnhtnbb]

35. We have Sutton's--complete with lunch counter --in downtown Chapel Hill

Then, we are losing the corner service station--yes, they had a bay for car repairs
and full service gas pumping--to another damned Walgreen's which we don't need.

[vanlassie]

36. CVS= YUCK.

Don't get me started on CVS.
What a dump. They took over Long's Drugs, which was a fixture where I live. Their stores smell of crappy carpet, for starters. Their signage is cheap, to match their products. Their shelves are poorly stocked. There is no customer service. They are hellholes. Gross. And to top it off, they hurangue you to get their little plastic card so you can get a tiny discount. But that's really so they can track your purchases.

[smokey nj]

37. There are a couple in Bayonne where I live.

I'm thrilled because my husband's company changed their prescription plan and one that's a block and a half away from me accepts it. My family's patronized this drug store for generations because. They compete with the big guys and do a great job of it.

[Arkansas Granny]

38. We have a few locally owned drug stores where I live and the one

that is just a few blocks from my house still has a soda fountain. I don't know how good business is for them, but they seem to have customers every time I go by.

[Ratty]

40. There's one a few blocks away from me

But three quarters of it is literally greeting cards. The rest is stationery, cleaning supplies, and a tiny tiny little section of actual drugs. Very weird.

[WI_DEM]

41. yes, there is one in my neighborhood.

[Desertrose]

42. Tell me about it...my Dad's drugstore was second generation....

Started working there when I was 12. Had a soda fountain & everything. It was so cool....he retired & sold it in '77. I remember often he would end up giving meds to people who just couldn't afford to pay for them....

For over 75 years it was the only one in our little town in SE Pa...then shortly before he retired another was built....things were never the same.

I have an awesome pic of my Mom & Dad in the 40's at the soda fountain. My Mom looked like a movie star. *sigh* Sure miss them both.

Nope, chain stores are totally different critters.

[Liberal_in_LA]

45. Yes. Lots in los Angeles. And more in doctor office buildings.

[DAMANgoldberg]

47. My city has a few left

2 Giant Genie Rx, at least 2 compounding Rxs in the moneyed burbs, and Pikes Soda Shop on the Eastside still has a fountain. Also where I went to school still has a most famous one. www.toomersdrugs.com !

[4lbs]

50. There are actually two such non-chain small drugstores within a mile of where I live.

They are privately owned by individuals and not part of any big national chain like CVS, Walgreens, or Rite-Aid.

One's been in existence for over 25 years, and the other for at least 10 years.