Whether
a "big box" hardware store or a "big box" drug store, the independently
run stores are still my favorite venues. My regular visits to Smith's
Mercerville "Ace Hardware" has shown me that I might spend a bit more on
the items I purchase as opposed to one of the giants. The real benefit
lies in the fact that "Ace is the place," and I'm sure it's true at "Tru
Value" and other independents where one can find real live warm bodies
who are at your immediate beck and call. I'm willing to pay extra for
that kind of service. After putting up with unbelievable inefficiency at
a "big box" drug store in my neighborhood with their prescription bags
stowed in alphabetical order in countless bins that take forever to
retrieve, I have gone back to my independent pharmacy. In my case Carlo
Benedetti's Olden Pharmacy. I don't see any difference in price but I
sure to see a difference when I go to pickup a prescription. There are
no aisles with bag after bag of alphabetically stored prescriptions
waiting to be picked up and clerks who sift through the alphabet looking
for the correct bag. Not only that, the independents can boast of the
immediate attention one gets from a sales person waiting to serve you;
it's all about fast, courteous service.About the graphic: You could safely say it's "back to basics." I fondly remember the neighborhood drug stores we had in our neighborhood. Let's see....there was Coleman's at Greenwood and South Olden Avenue, Long's in a number of moves (E. State and South Olden?) was at one time at Hamilton and South Olden Avenue, replaced by Steinel's, and let me see...oh yes, Fromkins on Liberty and Kline, replaced by Liberty Pharmacy, and I will never forget Silk's on Greenwood and Norway Avenue.
I REMEMBER NAPOLEON'S, SALVATORE'S, ETC.
SEND ME YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD DRUGGIST WITH THE STREET ADDRESS AND LET'S COMPILE A LIST COMPLETED.
THIS POST IS A REPEAT FROM OCTOBER 2011. THERE WAS A LARGE NUMBER OF
COMMENTS AN THEY OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE. COMMENTS FOLLOW:
-
Ralph Lucarella said... - HI
TOM...ESPOSITO'S ON CHAMBERS STREET WAS OUR PHARMACY FOR QUITE SOME
TIME. BUT YOU ARE CORRECT. THEY OVERSHADOW THE SUPER STORES AND ARE
MORE DEPENDABLE. REGARDS.
- Michael said...
- Tom:
In the 1930's, there was "Dr" Arthur Yetters at the corner of So.Warren, and Fall Sts. Not only did you go to him for somthing in your eye, where he would roll your eyelid up, and take the offending object out with a que tip, but he had the only phone in the neighborhood, which everyone made, and recieved call on;FREE Dr. Yetter would compound medications, and the salves he made were like incredibly effective.
After him, came Sully Alexander at the corner of Market, and Union St. Sully was the dad of Jay and Richard of the "Twins" Pharmacy on So. Olden near Whitehorse. What is now "Joe's Mill Hill Saloon at Market and Broad Sts., was Stucherts (sp)Down the street from Jr. Four was "Grove's" on the corner of Dayton, and I think Virginia.
The biggie was the one on Prospect, and West State, and damm if I can remember the two named partnership.
Regards
Mike Kuzma
- Anonymous said...
- Tom,
what you refer to as Longs was Rhodes Pharmacy in the early 1950's
when I lived in the Wilbur section. Later we moved to the Brunswick
Avenue area where we went to Harbourt's at Brunswick and Spruce. The
owner, Harrison Harbourt was an avid Delaware Valley Sports Car Club
member. Later they changed the name to Scott-Taylor. When
Scott-Taylor were downtown they were said to have the first phone in
Trenton .. #1.
Ed Millerick
- Carlo said...
- Mike- it was Adams & Sickles
- Michael said...
- Tom:
Was the name I was looking for; Adams and Sylcles on West State and Prospect?
Did not want to leave out Siegles pharmacy on Broad and Liberty. John Fityere was the pharmacist. A great guy.
Mike
- Michael said...
- Hey Carlo:
How is one of the brightest, smartest kids who ever attended Jr.4? I didn't see you post until after I finally posted it. The name came to me in the middle of driving back from North Carolina.
Damm old age ain't fun.
If you see Johnny, let him know I was thinking of the "the Three bright stars of my homeroom in 1947. I guess Alger is gone, but not forgotten.
Mike
JoeZ said...- Tom:
Like Ed on Brunswick Ave. we had Harbourt's and also a
hole-in-the-wall place called Brunswick Drugs. When we lived on Revere
Ave.it was Episcopo's. Pardon if I spelled the name wrong.
- Anonymous said...
- Brunswick Drugs with that great soda fountain. The lime-rickey in a frosted glass was Heaven. Amen.
Ed Millerick
Unless it was a cherry Coke?
Mack said...- Episcopo's & Siegel'a were our drugstores and they usually had calendars we would pin up next to the phone in the kitchen:))
- Carlo said...
- Hey Mike, Johnny is fine..we get together once a month for lunch.
Alger is living in San Francisco, doing a lot of traveling. Jr 4..a long time ago, but great memories Stay well!
12 comments:
-
Ralph Lucarella said...
- HI TOM...ESPOSITO'S ON CHAMBERS STREET WAS OUR PHAMARCY FOR QUITE SOME TIME. BUT YOU ARE CORRECT. THEY OVERSHADOW THE SUPER STORES AND ARE MORE DEPENDABLE. REGARDS.
-
Saturday, October 15, 2011
-
Michael said...
- Tom:
In the 1930's, there was "Dr" Arthur Yetters at the corner of So.Warren, and Fall Sts. Not only did you go to him for somthing in your eye, where he would roll your eyelid up, and take the offending object out with a que tip, but he had the only phone in the neighborhood, which everyone made, and recieved call on;FREE Dr. Yetter would compound medications, and the salves he made were like incredibly effective.
After him, came Sully Alexander at the corner of Market, and Union St. Sully was the dad of Jay and Richard of the "Twins" Pharmacy on So. Olden near Whitehorse. What is now "Joe's Mill Hill Saloon at Market and Broad Sts., was Stucherts (sp)Down the street from Jr. Four was "Grove's" on the corner of Dayton, and I think Virginia.
The biggie was the one on Prospect, and West State, and damm if I can remember the two named partnership.
Regards
Mike Kuzma -
Saturday, October 15, 2011
-
Anonymous said...
- Tom, what you refer to as Longs was Rhodes Pharmacy in the early 1950's
when I lived in the Wilbur section. Later we moved to the Brunswick
Avenue area where we went to Harbourt's at Brunswick and Spruce. The
owner, Harrison Harbourt was an avid Delaware Valley Sports Car Club
member. Later they changed the name to Scott-Taylor. When Scott-Taylor
were downtown they were said to have the first phone in Trenton .. #1.
Ed Millerick -
Sunday, October 16, 2011
-
Carlo said...
- Mike- it was Adams & Sickles
-
Sunday, October 16, 2011
-
Michael said...
- Tom:
Was the name I was looking for; Adams and Sylcles on West State and Prospect?
Did not want to leave out Siegles pharmacy on Broad and Liberty. John Fityere was the pharmacist. A great guy.
Mike -
Sunday, October 16, 2011
-
Michael said...
- Hey Carlo:
How is one of the brightest, smartest kids who ever attended Jr.4? I didn't see you post until after I finally posted it. The name came to me in the middle of driving back from North Carolina.
Damm old age ain't fun.
If you see Johnny, let him know I was thinking of the "the Three bright stars of my homeroom in 1947. I guess Alger is gone, but not forgotten.
Mike -
Monday, October 17, 2011
-
JoeZ said...
- Tom: Like Ed on Brunswick Ave. we had Harbourt's and also a hole-in-the-wall place called Brunswick Drugs. When we lived on Revere Ave.it was Episcopo's. Pardon if I spelled the name wrong.
-
Monday, October 17, 2011
-
Anonymous said...
- Brunswick Drugs with that great soda fountain. The lime-rickey in a frosted glass was Heaven. Amen.
Ed Millerick
Unless it was a cherry Coke? -
Monday, October 17, 2011
-
Mack said...
- Episcopo's & Siegel'a were our drugstores and they usually had calendars we would pin up next to the phone in the kitchen:))
-
Monday, October 17, 2011
-
Carlo said...
- Hey Mike, Johnny is fine..we get together once a month for lunch.
Alger is living in San Francisco, doing a lot of traveling. Jr 4..a long time ago, but great memories Stay well! -
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
-
Anonymous said...
- Tom - The only drug store I remember at our end of the township from the
time I was little was Foy's Drug Store on South Broad Street in White
Horse. It was the only one until Yardville Drug came into being sometime
in the '50's.
Lakeside Girl -
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
-
Anonymous said...
- My father and one of my uncles grew up in Trenton and both became pharmacists. They each worked at a pharmacy called Delahanty's in the city, and then set up separate pharmacies outside of the city. There was a vibrant commmunity of independent pharmacies in and around Trenton that sustained a group called the Society of Mercer County Pharmacists who regularly met and funded a scholarship. Though nominally competitors, the owners of the independent stores regularly socialized and close friendships developed through a couple of generations of men and women who practiced in Mercer from the 1950s through at least the 1970s. Presumeably, the prevalence of chain drug stores has eliminated or much reduced this congenial slice of local professional life.
-
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Silks was at Greenwood & Johnston not Norway.
ReplyDeleteSILKS WAS INDEED AT GREENWOOD AND JOHNSTON, ANONYMOUS, AT THE SITE OF TODAY'S DOLLAR PLUS STORE.
ReplyDeleteTOM
Hi Tom: Our neighborhood drug store was Shutz's on Hermitage and Edgewood avenues. It had a wonderful soda fountain with stools and a marble counter and a great comic book arry to the right inside the front door. I can still visualize it. It was owned by Leon and Molly Shutz. Thanks for prompting wonderful memories. Regards
ReplyDeleteEpiscopo's on Chamber's and Liberty St. Heard story that Babe Ruth hit one over the Center Field fence at Wetzel field that ended up going thru the Episcopo drug store window. I remember a sign, on the center field fence, under the trees and it was 517 feet I think. That would be some hit to clear that fence, and the gas station, and still make it to Episcopo's. LOL.
ReplyDeleteIn Trenton there was James J. Horan, on the same block as Inglesby Funeral Home. In Mercerville there was Yelen's, on Nottingham Way.
ReplyDeleteYes there was Foy's Drug Store on South Broad street near the White Horse Circle between Colonial Ave and Maple Shade Ave. It too started with a soda fountain. The store was started by Donald Foy Sr. Family owned and ran for 50 or so years. Then sold after the chain stores moved in.
ReplyDelete