MONDAY, JULY 13TH, 2020 THE CORNER DRUGSTORE AND A MILKSHAKE TOO

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Monday, July 13th, 2020

Our  103rd  Edition

MORE TREATS FROM THE PAST

THE CORNER DRUGSTORE 
WITH
THE SODA FOUNTAIN

“Walgreen Drugs”
Company history Early

Sign still in use in San Antonio, Texas

Walgreens began in 1901, with a small food front store on the corner of Bowen and Cottage Grove Avenues in Chicago, owned by Galesburg native Charles R. Walgreen. By 1913, Walgreens had grown to four stores on Chicago’s South Side. It opened its fifth in 1915 and four more in 1916. By 1919, there were 20 stores in the chain. As a result of alcohol prohibition, the 1920s were a successful time for Walgreens. Although alcohol was illegal, prescription whiskey was available and sold by Walgreens.

In 1922 the company introduced a malted milkshake, which led to its establishing ice cream manufacturing plants. The next year, Walgreen began opening stores away from residential areas. In the mid 1920s, there were 44 stores with annual sales of $1,200,000 combined. Walgreens had also expanded by then into Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. By 1930 it had 397 stores with annual sales of US$4,000,000.

This expansion partly was attributed to selling prescribed alcohol, mainly whiskey, which Walgreen often stocked under the counter, as accounted in Daniel Okrent’s Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.
The stock market crash in October 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression did not greatly affect the company. By 1934, Walgreens was operating in 30 states with 601 stores. After Charles Walgreen Sr. died in 1939, his son Charles R. Walgreen Jr. took over the chain until his retirement. The Charles R. Walgreen (Walgreen Jr.) years were relatively prosperous, but lacked the massive expansion seen in the early part of the century. Charles “Cork” R. Walgreen III took over after Walgreen Jr.’s retirement in the early 1950s and modernized the company by switching to barcode scanning. The Walgreen family was not involved in senior management of the company for a short time following Walgreen III’s retirement.

More Discreet than Duane Reade signage

REXALL

In 1903, Louis K. Liggett persuaded 40 independent drug stores to invest $4,000 in a retailers’ cooperative called United Drug Stores, which sold products under the Rexall name. After World War I, the cooperative established a franchise arrangement whereby independently owned retail outlets adopted the Rexall trade name and sold Rexall products. The company was based in Boston.

Rexall Train Postcard photo of the Rexall Train

The Rexall Train of March to November 1936 toured the United States and Canada to promote Rexall drug store products, and to provide the equivalent of a national convention for local Rexall druggists without the cost of travel. Free tickets for locals to see displays of Rexall products were available at local Rexall drug stores. The 29,000 mile tour visited 47 of the 48 contiguous states (omitting Nevada) and parts of Canada. The blue-and-white train of 12 air-conditioned Pullman cars with displays in 4 cars, convention facilities in 4 cars and a dining car was hauled by a streamlined 4-8-2 Mohawk locomotive, No. 2783 from the New York Central Railroad. It was the million-dollar brainchild of Louis Liggett, who travelled in the rear observation car.
Justin Whitlock Dart, formerly of the Walgreens drugstore chain, took control of Boston-based United Drug Company in 1943. The chain operated under the Liggett, Owl, Sonta, and Rexall brands, which Dart rebranded under the Rexall name. Rexall gained national exposure through its sponsorship of two famous classic American radio programs of the 1940s and 1950s: Amos and Andy and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Both shows were often opened by an advertisement from an actor (Griff Barnett) portraying “your Rexall family druggist”, and included the catch phrase “Good health to all from Rexall.” They also sponsored the Jimmy Durante Show and references are made by the character Mr. Peavey in some of The Great Gildersleeve radio shows. Rexall also sponsored Richard Diamond, Private Detective starring Dick Powell from April 1950 until Camel replaced Rexall as the sponsor after the December 6, 1950, broadcast.

C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries

THE HISTORY OF C.O. BIGELOW OUR APOTHECARY, OUR LEGACY Nestled in the tiny neighborhood of Greenwich Village in New York City, C.O. Bigelow is the oldest apothecary in America. For nearly two centuries we have served some of the country’s most predominant personalities and have remained true to our traditions, transporting customers back to a time and place of personalized attention, customized formulas and healing therapeutic natural preparations.

Caswell-Massey

Caswell-Massey, founded in 1752, is the first fragrance and personal care product company in America. Originally, Caswell Massey started as an apothecary shop in Newport, Rhode Island, by a Scottish-born doctor named William Hunter. The main product categories include fine-fragrance, soap, bath & body products, men’s shaving products and toiletries, other assorted apothecary-style personal care accessories. Its products are preferred favorites of notable historical figures such as: JFK, George Washington, Cole Porter, Alla Nazimova, John Denver, and The Rolling Stones. The company is regarded as the fourth-oldest continuously operating company in America and the oldest American consumer brand in operation. The current motto of is “America’s Original”.

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Kiehl’s

Founded in 1851 by John Kiehl, Kiehl’s began as a homeopathic pharmacy located in New York City‘s East Village: 3rd Avenue and 13th Street. In 1921 Irving Morse, a former apprentice and Russian Jewish émigré who had studied pharmacology at Columbia University, purchased the store. Morse was involved in developing many of Kiehl’s products that are still popular today; including Blue Astringent Herbal Lotion and Creme de Corps. Irving’s son, Aaron Morse, who also studied pharmacology at Columbia University and was a former World War II pilot, took over the store in the 1960s.

The younger Morse was credited for propelling Kiehl’s from obscurity in the 1950s to international recognition in the 1980s as an upscale natural cosmetics shop. Aaron transitioned the store from traditional pharmaceuticals towards skin care lines. After Aaron‘s death in 1995, his desk and some of his vintage motorcycles were prominently showcased in the store.

From 1988 to 2000, Jami Morse Heidegger, Aaron’s daughter, operated Kiehl’s. Maintaining Kiehl’s as a single store, but selling their products through high end retail stores, Morse Heidegger increased Kiehl’s revenue to $40 million. Morse Heidegger achieved this growth by being “a clever marketer”, relying on word of mouth and extensive free samples – and gifts – to market Kiehl’s products, rather than traditional advertising.

SODA FOUNTAINS AT THE DRUG STORE

Being a skinny kid, I remember going to the soda fountain in the local drug store for a malted milk. The malted was great and spinning around on the tall stool was even more fun.  Watching the staff make the malted with milk from a mysterious pump, malt from a dispenser and the all Hamilton Beach green mixer. The mixer seemed to take so much time to finish. Then 3 glasses of the luscious beverage!!!

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

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Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky
for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
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