The Drugstore

(An Ongoing Series with New Images & Stories to be Added)

Lock Drugstore
Bastrop, Texas
August 6, 2012

I can remember both my Nana’s, and my great-grandmother Lane talking about needing to go to the apothecary for this or that medicine. For me as a kid, the apothecary had become the neighborhood drugstore. Sometimes a chain, sometimes an independent. My neighborhood drugstore was an independent, but I most often visited Read’s, a chain, where I could get an ice cream soda. My Nana Mills, for a while worked at a neighborhood corner drugstore. I would often pop in after Cub Scouts for a candy or an ice cream cone—no soda fountain.

After completing seminary, my first pastorate was in Huntington, West Virginia. During that time, we lived in the Hollywood neighborhood, which at the time had a small local drugstore with a two-stool soda fountain. (I don't remember ever sitting on one of those stools.) Many a summer night I would walk down to the store and purchase two cherry ice cream sodas to go. One for me and one for my then wife. Sort of reminiscent of when we were dating and would grab a milkshake or soda at her local drugstore. Which by the way is still there in its original building, although sans soda fountain.

It has been a long time since I’ve bought an ice cream soda from a neighborhood drugstore. Speaking of soda fountains, Iconic Americana, has a section featuring Sods Fountains, some in drugstores (or former drugstores).

Not many independent, neighborhood drugstores still exist, but some do. Iconic Americana pays tribute to them with this selection of stories and images.

Strickland Drugs

Blanco, Texas

Strickland Drugs
Blanco, Texas
Founded: 1880 | The oldest drugstore in Texas
Image: August, 2012

The image may date to 2012, but the exterior of the store today looks pretty much just as it did then, except that the Strickland Drugs sign has given way to "Blanco Pharmacy & Wellness."

The oldest drugstore in Texas, Strickland Drugs has been an independent, family-owned drugstore since its founding in 1880. The drug store located on Blanco's historic public square is where the locals go for their medicines and tourists for a dose of history. There are old photos of Blanco, an antique clock and typewriters. Strickland Drugs is somewhat of a rarity among drugstores, as it is compounding pharmacy. The owner when this shot was taken , Phillip Strickland, purchased the store in 1976 and just recently, happily turned the reigns over to someone else. And that someone else is his pharmacist, Siobhan Atchley. Both share the love of running a local, independent drugstore.

When asked what he was going to do in his retirement, he replied, "“We’ll go where the Lord leads us. We don’t want retirement to be about self.” For Strickland it has never been about self. Always the people he serves.

The last time I was there was on a Sunday, and as Strickland's is closed on Sundays, no interior pictures.

Nau's Enfield Drugs

Enfield Neighborhood
Austin, Texas

Nau's Enfield Drug
Enfield Neighborhood
Austin, Texas

For Nau’s, and for Austinites too, an era of mid-century American culture has come to the end.

Sadly, the end came not because Nau's was failing, but the owner of the building wanting to sell and refused to renew the lease. The end arrived in March 2023. When it did, seeking to keep memories of Nau’s in the neighborhood, owner Laura Labay held a Nau's estate sale shortly after closing. Still, if she could she would like to reopen if she could find the right location.

Labay took over the store when her dad, Pharmacist Lambert Labay retired in 2016. The elder Labay purchased Nau’s in 1971.

Nau's Enfield Drug
The stuffed interior

Nau's_Enfield_Drugstore_5 Although I no longer live in Austin, I am sad to see it go. Opening in 1951 and quickly becoming a neighborhood staple, it had a good run. When Lorraine was working in the West End Castle Hill area, I would often drop her off and head over to Nau’s and wander the overstuffed aisles. There were boxes (as the images show) to be peeked in and old odds and ends, like clocks and an old pedal fire engine high on the shelves. Often, I’d buy a cup of coffee and take my place at the counter. Rarely did someone not strike up a conversation.

Nau's Enfield Drug
The pharmacy is way to the rear

Nau’s was a special place, a public space where neighbors could socialize, and dine together, as well as get prescriptions filled. Although Nau’s is gone, the memories linger.

Although the pharmacy stayed open to very end, the old-style soda fountain-grill didn’t make it. COVID closed it in 2019. It opened briefly in 2020, struggled to stay open and finally closed for later in the year. When the diner was opened, Nau’s was known for its frosty milkshakes and hamburgers, along with its breakfast offerings.

When opened, Nau’s won 19 Best of Austin Awards!

Nau's Enfield Drug
The stuffed interior

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