Home Posts tagged "Walgreens"

Tag: Walgreens

No More Soda Fountains – Walgreens Then and Now

  My family has shopped at Walgreens for as long as I can remember and have always clipped the flier coupons. My parents still clip these coupons, while I prefer the digital versions. As I mentioned in my Michigan Avenue blog, I frequented the Walgreens at 757 N. Michigan and sometimes found coins on the floor to buy a trinket from the gumball machines. My mom only gave me exact bus fare to get downtown and my dad would drive me home. I didn’t have any change to even make a phone call, so I always looked for coins on the floor that people had dropped. In the early 1980s, my first husband and I would shop at the Walgreens in Lincoln Square and for some reason the guy in the liquor department really liked us. He would give us free bottles of wine, which I think got him fired eventually. Speaking of booze, after being dry since the early 1990s, Walgreens decided to bring beer and wine back to some of its stores in 2010.     Founded in 1901 as a single store on the South Side of Chicago by Galesburg native Charles R. Walgreen, the drug store had four locations in the same vicinity by 1913. In 1929, 525 Walgreens stores were in operation, including locations in New York City, Florida, and other major markets. As of August 31, 2018, Walgreens operated about 9,560 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Iconic Soda Fountain & Malted Like other drug stores, Walgreens stores had iconic soda fountains back in the day. In fact, Walgreens is famous for revolutionizing the malted milk fountain creation, thanks to Ivar “Pop” Coulson, who added Walgreens own vanilla ice cream to the mix…

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A Walk Down Memory Lane with Groovy Bath & Beauty Products from the 1960s-1980s

Although certain candies bring back really sweet memories of childhood, I’ve been thinking lately about some of the bath and beauty products from my youth. These items are associated with vivid memories of a simpler time, devoid of all the gadgets and high tech products kids have today. Some of them, like unopened feminine products from yesteryear, are actually collected now for their nostalgic factor – I have personally sold a few on Ebay. If you have any products you used in your youth that bring back memories, whether fond or angst-ridden, please share. Procter & Gamble introduced Prell shampoo in 1947. Growing up, the clear green concentrate packaged in a tube was my family’s shampoo of choice. The color really looked radioactive, but the plastic tube was ingenious – lightweight and no risk of breaking a glass bottle. Although Prell was also available in a plastic bottle, the tube is what I associate with its iconic image. According to the website, in 1955 Prell was marketed for “women who wanted their hair to have that radiantly alive look”. Honestly, I cannot remember if the shampoo was good for our hair, but thinking about it brings back a host of memories. Procter & Gamble sold Prell to Prestige Brands International in November 1999. Prestige sold Prell, along with its other two shampoo brands (Denorex and Zincon) to Ultimark Products in October 2009 in order to focus on other product areas. Much to my surprise, the tubes are available for purchase on Amazon.

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CVS Pharmacies Not All Created Equal – Some Give New Meaning to the CVS Acronym

When CVS Pharmacy first opened in metro Chicago, I was impressed with the selection and prices. They were certainly competitive with Walgreens and Jewel-Osco, but in the last few years this chain has slid downhill at a rapid pace. Of course some locations are better than others – I went to the Palatine store today and it is vast and well stocked compared to the locations I normally frequent. Unfortunately the two closest to my home should be renamed CVS: Consumer Valueless Shops. But in general, not only are some of CVS prices out of sight compared to other discount stores, but the selection is meager. And even worse, the clerks are often incompetent and rude. That old adage I used in my recent Deals blog, when a deal is not a deal – certainly rings true here.

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