How Naperville pharmacy stayed in business 140 years

An old theory in retail holds that once every 10 years or so, even the most successful shop needs to change it up.

Design a new logo. Swap out an old product line for a fresh one. Remodel, expand or move the store. Do something, anything. Just don't stay stagnant.

If the once-a-decade refresher theory holds true, it means there have been at least 13 such updates for Oswald's Pharmacy, a business that's celebrating its 140th anniversary this year in Naperville. The 14th is underway.

"You expand as long as you're moving forward," said Bill Anderson, owner of the store in Naperville Plaza at 88 W. Gartner Road. "Hopefully it keeps you in business for another 140 years."

Started by two physicians in 1875 in downtown Naperville, the store has been in Anderson's family since roughly 1877.

Oswald's has long since ditched the paint, wallpaper and animal ointments it originally sold. A soda fountain that operated from 1915 to 1960 has come and gone. A cosmetics counter was added, then gave way to a cards and gifts section.

Beanie Babies, that hot toy trend of the 1990s, for a time took up a large portion of the store. Shortly after the plush Ty toys disappeared, the pharmacy celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2000, then moved four years later to its current location and began adding more medical equipment.

The store's newest update is a 4,600-square-foot addition that will allow much more space to sell durable medical goods and home health care items. Work on the build out began in May and is expected to be complete by early August. Anderson said contractors will be able to install carpet any day now, meaning shelving and products can come in soon.

And about that carpet. On the store's current 10,000-square-foot sales floor, it's red and slightly patterned - a far cry from the sterile, white tiling found at chain pharmacies.

The carpet is just one factor, but it helps make enough of a difference in the store's look and feel from a Walgreens or a CVS that Wil Anderson, the store's general manager and Bill's son, calls it "night and day."

"When you walk into an independent store, you know it instantly," the elder Anderson said.

That's how the family wants it to be, and that's part of why the store has stayed in business for 140 years.

"People have an image in their mind of what a drugstore is and we're so far from the image in 95 percent of the public's mind," Anderson said.

With all the basic over-the-counter medicines, a full pharmacy for prescriptions, health and beauty aids, joint supports, braces, shoes for diabetics and medical equipment, it's a drugstore, all right. But it also has a post office counter, lottery tickets and a variety of cards, games, books and gifts.

The store has been in Naperville Plaza, the first strip mall in Naperville, since 2004, but some of the appearance and atmosphere of the longtime downtown Naperville location remains.

For one thing, there's a mini pharmacy museum of sorts, where old vials, bottles, tins of Tums, light fixtures and more from the store's bygone days and an Anderson family attic are on display. But a bit of an old-time style is evident even in the store's layout, Wil Anderson said.

"I would say it's almost more unconscious," he said. "You take your sense of design and display from the generation before you. It just passes on."

Ownership of the business has been passed on through five generations of owners, many of them in-laws in Anderson's family. First came W.W. Wickel, who bought the store in 1875. Then his son-in-law, Louis Oswald, bought the business that still bears his name.

Oswald's son-in-law, Harold Kester, purchased the store, then later sold it to his son-in-law, Robert Anderson. Bill Anderson then bought it from his father in the early 1990s - no in-laws required.

Anderson keeps his office in a loft at the back of the store, and the presence of he and his son working to improve the business gives a reminder to the rest of the 30 employees of what the shop is all about.

"We're first and foremost a pharmacy," Anderson said - one that focuses on health and "high ethics" and one that's full of workers who show just a bit more care than some customers expect.

"They take a little more pride in what they do, and I think it's just because it's a closely held organization and the boss is walking around on a daily basis and he cares about it and he cares about the community," Anderson said. "It just kind of falls into place from there."

The largest celebration of Oswald's 140th anniversary will come in October, and the Andersons are still developing the plans.

For now, they're awaiting completion of the addition, which will bring an automatic sliding door to the main entrance and much more space to display lift chairs that help people easily stand up from sitting. Fitting rooms and a demonstration bathroom also will be added to show toilets, showers and tubs for sale.

These products aren't just for the elderly, the Andersons say, but as the city's population ages, the family sees the adaptive medical equipment portion of the business growing.

"I just look at this as the next step," Bill Anderson said.