{"id":486,"date":"2014-10-09T16:33:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T21:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rx-edge.com\/blog\/?p=486"},"modified":"2016-05-24T09:31:31","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T14:31:31","slug":"pharmacy-soda-fountain-fountain-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/pharmacy-soda-fountain-fountain-health\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pharmacy: from soda fountains to fountains of health"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Soda<\/p>\n

As I was developing our recent white paper<\/a>, I did a little research on the history of retail pharmacies.\u00a0 While my research didn\u2019t stretch too far back in time, it was interesting to track the origins of the business of pharmacy and the experiences of customers over the years.\u00a0 So, speaking of experiences\u2026if you\u2019re not part of a certain generation, then you are probably not aware \u2013 or maybe only faintly aware \u2013 that drugstores used to be quite the popular social destinations.\u00a0 No, people didn\u2019t flock to their local pharmacy to gather excitedly around the latest headache remedy.\u00a0 \u00a0Instead, they took a seat at a friendly soda-fountain counter and enjoyed a variety of beverages, milk shakes, and eventually even hamburgers!\u00a0 \u00a0If this seems incongruent with what we would commonly associate with pharmacy services, then think again\u2026its origins were in health.\u00a0 The soda fountain phenomenon began at the beginning of the 19th<\/sup> century, when carbonated waters began to emerge as an important aid for sustaining health and to combat certain ailments.\u00a0 \u00a0Over time, they became a logical extension of drugstore offerings for their perceived medicinal value.\u00a0 \u00a0Pharmacies began producing soda water with special dispensing \u201cfountain\u201d machines and people would come in and buy it by the bottleful.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone along the way got the very bright idea to add flavored syrups and make the freshly-created concoction available at a special counter in the store.\u00a0 The idea took off in a big way and soon the \u201csoda fountain\u201d became a regular component of most American drug stores.\u00a0\u00a0 Many forward-thinking pharmacy owners seized on the trend with specially designed onyx and marble countertops, ornate fixtures of silver and bronze, and Tiffany lamps.\u00a0\u00a0 These efforts represented early pharmacy-marketing at its finest, drawing in large numbers of people and enhancing the drug store\u2019s status as a community centerpiece.\u00a0 The magazine Drug Topics<\/em> even featured a special section on Fountain Management.<\/p>\n

Over time, of course, quick-serve food, beverages, and ice cream became widely available through other outlets and as a result soda fountains in pharmacies began to decline rapidly in number.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see a few around today but mostly they serve as nostalgic tourist spots.<\/p>\n

The Pharmacy is\u00a0still a gathering spot \u2013 but for different reasons<\/h2>\n

\"Pharmacy:Community drugstores don\u2019t serve the social function that they once did; nevertheless they are still drawing in huge numbers of consumers every week.\u00a0 These people may not be sharing milkshakes with their friends any longer, but they are getting everyday necessities, prescriptions, and over-the-counter medications.\u00a0 They are also finding pharmacist-provided services, wellness events, chronic disease management, educational information about medications, and treatment resources.\u00a0 While the 19th<\/sup> century \u201csoda fountain\u201d proprietors might be amazed at the experiences available today, they probably wouldn\u2019t be too surprised.\u00a0 After all, the restoration and maintenance of health was the stimulus for what eventually became the soda fountain.\u00a0 And meeting the health needs of consumers continues to serve as the inspiration for today\u2019s pharmacy leaders.<\/p>\n

Read our white paper<\/a>\u00a0to get a perspective on pharmacy\u2019s multi-faceted evolution and its value as a consumer pharmaceutical marketing platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I was developing our recent white paper, I did a little research on the history of retail pharmacies.\u00a0 While my research didn\u2019t stretch too far back in time, it was interesting to track the origins of the business of pharmacy and the experiences of customers over the years.\u00a0 So, speaking of experiences\u2026if you\u2019re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instephealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}