Bigelow Chemists is the oldest pharmacy in the country, located in the Village on 6th Avenue near 8th Street in a Beaux-Arts building (here’s a link with photos, history, and story). It’s a pleasure to go in – they specialize in very high quality and hard-to-find products for the skin and hair, fragrance for the home, and small luxury items for everyday life. They continue as a true apothecary, making their own line of remedies and filling prescriptions.
They cultivate relationships with their customers over years, an unusual practice in this type of business nowadays – getting to know the local residents. People come in to browse, take in the atmosphere, and try on the samples. Perhaps this is overly enthusiastic for a simple drugstore, but they have preserved an atmosphere that opens the door to the past and the senses simultaneously.
Note: Here’s a link to Indieperfumes, which goes into these sorts of topics in depth…
i have a thing for pharmacies, just enjoy browsing and to buy interesting new brands
I love this kind of places!
I love drug stores in the states I could stay for a while…
So the woodwork around the windows is original? I love stores that don’t cave in to pressures to modernize EVERYTHING. The name “Bigelow” sounds so familiar to me. I wonder if I’ve heard it somewhere else before this.
I like your other site. I like the post about sunbathing. But I don’t recognize the painting. Could you identify it?
Thanks, all. Frieseke’s painting of “Venus in the Sunlight” – an American Impressionist, turn of the century…I was not familiar with him either til recently.
Yes, the old woodwork and counters are still there at Bigelows, they also now make their own line of products. They used to have a store cat that ruled the place, people would come in just to feed it special treats they bought from Balducci’s down the street. He was extremely overweight, now gone (aged 18) they got a new store cat which the workers seem to like better. They are very personal there…
L
bigelow is one of those classic nyc places. they carry a good selection of skin care products too. love shopping there.