Charlotte's Web and "Drug Store"

[bookbard]

We're listening to Charlotte's Web at the moment (which, if you haven't listened to with your kids, is great. Brilliant language, deep ideas). Anyway at one point it says "like boys hanging around a drugstore" or something. I remember reading in another American book that you get milkshakes/ ice cream sundaes at a drug store. But what is it exactly - is it a pharmacy or is it more of a candy store? Do they still exist, considering CW was written in 1952?

[SKL]

They used to have soda fountains.  (Where you would buy ice creams and such.)

They are seen in many movie scenes.  In "It's a Wonderful Life," the boy character worked in a drugstore with a soda fountain.

(I don't know how many still exist.  When we moved to Smalltown Midwest, one of the two drugstores had a soda fountain, but it closed at some point, taken over by CVS.  😞 )

Edited September 10, 2021 by SKL

[KSera]

That’s the term we always used growing up for stores like Walgreens or CVS (we didn’t have those ones, but those are the big National ones that would be equivalent). We had a couple smaller local ones. Pharmacy in the back, candy, makeup, miscellaneous. 

[Katy]

3 minutes ago, bookbard said:

We're listening to Charlotte's Web at the moment (which, if you haven't listened to with your kids, is great. Brilliant language, deep ideas). Anyway at one point it says "like boys hanging around a drugstore" or something. I remember reading in another American book that you get milkshakes/ ice cream sundaes at a drug store. But what is it exactly - is it a pharmacy or is it more of a candy store? Do they still exist, considering CW was written in 1952?

There was a drug store in my hometown growing up.  The back was a pharmacy.  The middle had over the counter items as well as anything health related, and the front was a soda shop & ice cream store.  They may have had sandwich type foods too, but all I remember buying there was root beer floats. It closed after Walmart moved in to the area.

[katilac]

We still say 'drugstore' around here for places like Walgreens, CVS, and so on. We say 'pharmacy' for the actual pharmacy inside of the drugstore 😀

Yes, many drugstores had soda fountains, and often lunch counters. We had one locally until at least, hmm, the late 1970s. I'd say they're pretty rare these days. 

[Bootsie]

In the Andy Griffith Show, I think the second season, Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue) plays a pharmacist at the local drug store (with the soda fountain and ice cream)  There was an old fashioned pharmacy with lunch counter and soda fountain in San Antonio until about 15 years ago

[bookbard]

Thank you! Both kids were like 'huh?' to the drugstore thing as we don't have an equivalent here in Australia. You can occasionally buy high end sweets in a chemist store, but that's about it. I do remember the scene from Noel Streatfield's The Painted Garden where the British family are introduced to a drugstore and they have something like an ice cream sundae. I just wasn't sure what else they sold, and whether it was still like that.

We had 'milk bars' in Australia up till about 20 years ago, where you bought milkshakes and so on, now the equivalent would be hamburger shops, where you can often buy milkshakes (as well as hamburgers and fish n chips) but a lot of them are takeaway rather than sit in like they used to be. I believe in NZ they're called 'dairies'?

Edited September 10, 2021 by bookbard

[Jean in Newcastle]

We have a drug store here in town.  There is a pharmacy in the back but in the bulk of the store are cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, candy, birthday cards, even a small housewares aisle and specials on nonperishable food items.  I do remember some with soda fountains back when I was a child visiting the US - though even then they were more of a novelty than a fixture in most stores. 

[Pawz4me]

I don't think those exist in most places anymore, except as novelty tourist attractions. The best still operating example I know of is Sutton's Drug Store in Chapel Hill, NC (home of the University of North Carolina). This link is to the Yelp reviews. You can see lots of pictures there--most of the food, but some of the pharmacy/restaurant itself.

[Eos]

My paternal grandfather had a drug store and my father worked in it as a "soda jerk" growing up - meaning he would pull the levers to make the soda water come out for ice cream sodas.

[ktgrok]

We just finished reading this book (Bookshark Level B) and my son loved it SO much! It's a favorite of mine as well. I also had to stop and explain what that reference meant, and we are American  - they definitely don't exist anymore. I explained it as a cross between an old fashioned ice cream shop (we have a few of those ) and a convenience store (usually attached to gas stations here - sell candy and milk, soda,etc) and a pharmacy. 

[Danae]

It seems weird to us today, but soda water was originally considered a health drink.  Hence the historic connection to pharmacies.

[J-rap]

We still use the term "drugstore" for a pharmacy.  So, even Walgreens is a drugstore.  Any place where their main service is dispensing prescriptions and selling other medicinal/health products.  Often, simple grocery items are sold there too, along with magazines, greeting cards, etc.

The traditional, old-fashioned drugstore like in Charlotte's Web was winding down when I was a child, although there were still quite a few around.  I remember walking to the corner drugstore when visiting my grandma.  I could pick up a prescription for my grandma, grab a soda at the counter (where you sat on a high bar stool), and buy a comic book.   The town we went to every fall with our own children had a traditional drugstore like that until about 10 years ago.  (Even with comic books!)

Our capitol city where we live still has one.  It's over a hundred years old, and it's where I got my Covid vaccines.  (But sadly, their soda fountain/counter is closed temporarily, during Covid.)  

*Soda fountain is often the term used for those drugstore counters.  Soda is carbonated water, and that was always a staple at those counters.  Mixed with ice-cream and chocolate syrup, they make a great drink!  That was always one of my favorites.  They'd typically also have other ice cream treats, and often small lunch items -- like a simple sandwich.

 

[Junie]

When she was young, my grandmother worked behind the counter at her uncle's drugstore.  It's where she met my grandpa. :)

[Danae]

The story of Drug Stores in the US wouldn’t be complete without some mention of Wall Drug.  
 

Wall, SD is a tiny town near the Black Hills. In the 1930s the local drug store started advertising free ice water with signs along the freeway.  Lots of signs, some of them “Burma Shave” style with a verse divided over multiple signs in a row. The “only ___ more miles to Wall Drug!” signs became the early 20th century equivalent of a meme, and soldiers sent to Europe in WWII put up signs “Only 7,356 miles to Wall Drug!”

The place now is the biggest tourist trap in the upper Midwest, deliberately, defiantly kitschy and still offers free ice water and has displays of the old pharmacy/drugstore furnishings.  The pie is good, too.  

[vonfirmath]

9 hours ago, SKL said:

They used to have soda fountains.  (Where you would buy ice creams and such.)

They are seen in many movie scenes.  In "It's a Wonderful Life," the boy character worked in a drugstore with a soda fountain.

(I don't know how many still exist.  When we moved to Smalltown Midwest, one of the two drugstores had a soda fountain, but it closed at some point, taken over by CVS.  😞 )

I would consider CVS a drugstore. But it no longer has a ice cream and soda fountain.

[Farrar]

When I was a kid, we always called places like CVS (though we didn't have them back then...) the "drug store."

But in New Orleans, my grandparents lived around the corner from the Woolworth's and it still had a soda counter. I remember that when I'd stay with them in the summer, we'd always have a day or two where we didn't do much (they spent most of my summer visits taking me to do city things like go to the zoo and the museums and to the French Quarter and so forth) except walk up to the corner park which had a giant rope climbing feature and then go across the street and have grilled cheese and milkshakes at the Woolworth's and sometimes go to the library that was on the next block. As a kid, I was enthralled by this vision of city living. I grew up extremely rurally (until I was in middle school, anyway, when we moved to the suburbs after my parents divorced). The idea that you could WALK places, like kids in novels set in New York! It was magical to me. And now I live in a city. No proper old fashioned drug stores though.

[vonfirmath]

Bryan, TX -- near where I grew up as a high schooler, had a Woolworth's. But, so far as I recall, no soda counter. It was a kitschy store with knickknacks and a few clothes.

 

[SKL]

18 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

I would consider CVS a drugstore. But it no longer has a ice and soda fountain.

Yes, I still call stores in that category "drugstores."  I did not realize until yesterday that this was not the norm.

We even now have stores officially called "drug" stores.  Like Discount Drug Mart.  DDM has almost everything you can think of, from dry goods to hot cooked food.  Unfortunately it doesn't have a soda fountain.  😛

[Idalou]

We went to one in Hamburg, Pa not too long ago. I hope it's still open.

It is! https://g.co/kgs/PAzi11

Edited September 10, 2021 by Idalou

[Pawz4me]

I'm among those who still call Walgreens, CVS, etc. "drug stores." About the only time I say "pharmacy" is when I mean a specific area of a (usually large) store. So if DH or DS were going into Walmart or Target to look for something I might say "It's near the pharmacy."

Edited September 10, 2021 by Pawz4me

[gardenmom5]

Think of the drug store where George Baily had his afterschool job when he was 12 in "It's a Wonderful Life'.  had the ice cream counter, and loose candy in jars you had to ask for.

around here-  and to my knowledge, they've pretty much gone by the wayside.  - though  I did see something like it when I was in Port Townsend, WA.   It advertised itself as a drug store.   They had a 'snack' counter, long bar with attached chairs. (It was closed).  they also had household goods, toys, etc. - but one of the items I was searching for (something I'd expect to find in a *drug store*!) they didn't have, and I ended up stopping at Safeway (big grocery store) on the way out of town.)

[gardenmom5]

25 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm among those who still call Walgreens, CVS, etc. "drug stores." About the only time I say "pharmacy" is when I mean a specific area of a (usually large) store. So if DH or DS were going into Walmart or Target to look for something I might say "It's near the pharmacy."

Or a *serious* pharmacy. I will call a pharmacy.  We had one - you could only buy Rx, some OTC and other medical/mobile assistance devices.    Oh - they also offered a service to put Rx/sups into dosage bubble packs for a month at a time.  so a person (usually older) doesn't have to do it themselves, or have someone do it for them.  They also did weekly deliveries to senior living homes.  Grocery store/chain pharmacies/drug stores generally wont' do that.   2dd worked at a central pharmacy location (no customers) that did that when she first moved to Texas.  (she's happier working out of the hospital.)   

CVS, Rite-aid (they bought Bartells.  sniff.), and Walgreen's, I just call a "drug store".  Pharmica - which also does compounding - but otherwise is like the others, get's called by its name.   Most compounding pharmacies I've been in - only sell the compounded rx, and sups.  that's it.

[marbel]

Sure, I remember drug stores with soda fountains or lunch counters. Woolworth's was mentioned - we used to shop there and they did have a counter, but I don't remember if they actually had a pharmacy. It was a while ago and I was pretty young.

41 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm among those who still call Walgreens, CVS, etc. "drug stores." About the only time I say "pharmacy" is when I mean a specific area of a (usually large) store. So if DH or DS were going into Walmart or Target to look for something I might say "It's near the pharmacy."

Yep, exactly. 

My husband's grandfather was a pharmacist, and at his store (so I'm told) you could get  your prescription filled and get a chicken salad sandwich and various ice cream/soda drinks. 

ETA: The closest thing I can think of now is a Target that has a pharmacy, and also a snack bar area and/or Starbucks. But the soda fountains I remember were just right in the store, not a separate area.

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by marbel

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

Bryan, TX -- near where I grew up as a high schooler, had a Woolworth's. But, so far as I recall, no soda counter. It was a kitschy store with knickknacks and a few clothes.

 

I have a hazy memory of getting a root beer float at Woolworths. I only remember because I was told, 'Don't stir it!" so of course I stirred it. And it erupted, lava style, lol. 

[fraidycat]

Our drugstore doesn't have a soda fountain, but it does have the only Starbucks in town.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't consider a soda fountain, a requirement for calling something a drug store.  Drug stores would have a soda fountain, just as drug stores now have a pharmacy.  The part is not the sum total.  (Though I would say that a drug store is required to have a pharmacy as part of it.)

[SounderChick]

Grants pass Oregon still has a real drugstore with soda fountain.  It has home goods and cards than a pharmacy in the back.  I'm sure they keep it like that partially for tourists but it's been there since 1933.  

I do still call all walgreens/rite aids drug stores.

[stephanier.1765]

If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch Opie work the soda counter at the drugstore.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWMGUGO?tag=reelgood06-20

[Corraleno]

3 hours ago, Danae said:

It seems weird to us today, but soda water was originally considered a health drink.  Hence the historic connection to pharmacies.

And until 1929 Coca-Cola syrup contained cocaine, which was a common ingredient in medicines at the time. My grandfather (born in 1910) said that when he was little his mother would often go to the drug store with a little jar and ask for some Coca-Cola syrup when one of the kids was sick. My dad actually worked as a soda jerk at the local drug store when he was a teen in the early 50s.

[Annie G]

Growing up our Woolworth and Rexall Drug store both had what we called ‘lunch counters’.  They were busy! Lots of folks stopped in for a cup of coffee or breakfast or lunch while shopping.  They had everything from grilled cheese to meatloaf. Like a small diner inside a store.  Where my parents grew up the drug stores had a soda fountain, which sold drinks and ice cream concoctions only. Different than the lunch counters from my youth.  But I loved both soda fountains and lunch counters! 

[SKL]

53 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I don't consider a soda fountain, a requirement for calling something a drug store.  Drug stores would have a soda fountain, just as drug stores now have a pharmacy.  The part is not the sum total.  (Though I would say that a drug store is required to have a pharmacy as part of it.)

I mentioned the soda fountain as context for why kids used to hang around drugstores back in the day.

[bookbard]

4 hours ago, J-rap said:

Soda fountain is often the term used for those drugstore counters

Ah ha! Thanks for that. 

[teachermom2834]

There is still one in the town I used to live. It has a compounding pharmacy and sells basic otc medicines and personal care and convenience items and also has a breakfast/lunch diner and ice cream/soda fountain treats. 
 

So there still are some out there but definitely not a common thing and if someone told me they were running to the drugstore and asked if I needed anything it would not occur to me to ask for a burger or a root beer float 🙂

Edited September 10, 2021 by teachermom2834

[historically accurate]

We have one here in town. Pharmacy in back, lots of misc stuff for sale (toiletries, cards, candy, tchotckes (how do you spell that?)). UPS/Post office shop in one area. And a coffee & sandwich shop (today's version of the soda counter I guess) in the front. 

[TexasProud]

People have already answered. We have a soda fountain, but there is no drug store. But yes, It's a wonderful life kind of thing.

[Halftime Hope]

NM

Edited September 11, 2021 by Halftime Hope

[J-rap]

11 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm among those who still call Walgreens, CVS, etc. "drug stores." About the only time I say "pharmacy" is when I mean a specific area of a (usually large) store. So if DH or DS were going into Walmart or Target to look for something I might say "It's near the pharmacy."

I still call them drugstores too.  Actually, I thought everyone did! 😁  

[J-rap]

Okay, I found a photo of our corner drugstore near where I live, that still has a soda fountain.  This is where I got my Covid vaccines!

 

[LaughingCat]

We hung out at the local drugstore all the time -- but I would say it was the comic books that drew us.     I could spend a couple hours purusing all the comic books.  It had an old soda fountain when we first moved to that town but it was long gone by the time I was old enough to walk there by myself (although the downtown drug store kept it's fountain for another 10 years or so).  

I'm in those who would call Walgreens or CVS a 'drugstore' -- and I still see kids hanging out at our local Walgreens, although they tend to be out in the parking lot eating the candy they bought.  No comic books anymore though. 

[Spy Car]

Growing up I often used to go to the famous Schwab's Pharmacy on the Sunset Strip in W. Hollywood to eat with my Dad, who worked down the street. It was known as a place where movie stars and other show biz types hung out--and that was true.

One might barely have known it was a drug store, as in addition to containing a "diner" (for lack of a better word) they also had a nice array of gift items for ladies. Felt friendly and elegant at the same time.

Demolished in the 80s. Wah.

Bill

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by Spy Car

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, J-rap said:

Okay, I found a photo of our corner drugstore near where I live, that still has a soda fountain.  This is where I got my Covid vaccines!

 

Thanks! Just showed my kids (and husband!)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Our local drugstore has what I would call "sundries" - in some ways it's a bit of a general store in addition to the pharmacy section. 

[ktgrok]

I definitely call Walgreens and such the drug store, but it isn't a hang out like in "olden times", lol. Closest equivalent would be Starbucks probably as far as places teens hang out and spend a few bucks. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

10 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I definitely call Walgreens and such the drug store, but it isn't a hang out like in "olden times", lol. Closest equivalent would be Starbucks probably as far as places teens hang out and spend a few bucks. 

Well, the teens weren't really hanging out in the pharmacy part of the drug store, so I agree with you!  We had a local frozen yogurt place that served a similar function - teen/kid friendly food, the staff were mostly teens so their friends would buy some froyo and talk to them, there were comfy(ish) seats and no one was rushing them out the door. . . .

[mellifera33]

I thought that drugstore was still the common term until I recently said something to my kids and they just looked at me. "Drug store?!? Like a store where they sell drugs?!?" I guess we've been in the habit of specifying which store and they haven't heard it in conversation. Of course, in Washington we DO have a different type of drug store...I remember the day when my oldest son realized the double meaning of the giant billboard of a sleepy-looking cat saying "I'm so high right meow."

[stephanier.1765]

Since I get my medication on base, in my mind the pharmacy is where I get my prescribed medication. Nothing else is available or for sale. The drug store is where you can get prescribed medication, OTC drugs, snacks, drinks, health and beauty supplies, and film developed (do they still do that?)... ie. CVS, Walgreens, etc. There is a place in town where you can pickup medication but they also sell medical supplies and equipment. We do call that one a pharmacy.

[bookbard]

We would say chemist or pharmacy, but mostly chemist (in Australia). You can get little gifts, soaps, perfumes, candles type things there as well, but that would be a small part of the place. Definitely no comic books - don't know nowadays, but I used to pick up Phantom comics at the newsagency. 

[mom2scouts]

On 9/10/2021 at 10:23 AM, SKL said:

Yes, I still call stores in that category "drugstores."  I did not realize until yesterday that this was not the norm.

We even now have stores officially called "drug" stores.  Like Discount Drug Mart.  DDM has almost everything you can think of, from dry goods to hot cooked food.  Unfortunately it doesn't have a soda fountain.  😛

The owner's of DDM are dh's clients. I wonder if he can convince them to bring back soda fountains.😄

[KungFuPanda]

Baltimore still has one.  https://stores.healthmart.com/charlesmead/stores.aspx