I miss Drug Fair
I loved Drug Fair too! I remember all the bags of candy in bins! I was so sad when it closed, although probably better for my diet. The replacement, Walgreens, never seems to shake the ghost of Drug Fair no matter how many times they renovate.
I miss it as well, the giant photos of drugs at the pharmacy and the sound of the machine that deactivated the security tags at the register are still clear memories to me. The whole Millburn Mall pre 2007 was such a great cluster of local businesses. I'm not sure what happened, if the property changed hands or the landlords just decided to turn things over, but almost all of them either had their leases non renewed or didn't last many more years.
Drug Fair was our go-to, one stop shop for just about everything we needed to pick-up when running weekend errands. I never found anything comparable to replace it. It is deeply missed by many.
On the topic of similar stores, anybody miss the Medi Mart that was next to Kings in Short Hills? Before CVS and Target and Walmart, it was a shopping wonderland for us as children.
Jaytee said:
It’s all the fault of those five guys…
Five guys was a great old greasy spoon restaurant . I forget the name. . .was it Al's? I enjoyed eating there after doing my Drug Fair haul.
dickf3 said:
It had pretty much everything. Kerosene lamps for the power outage. Pet carriers. Fertilizer. Hand tools. Home and office supplies. Edibles.
Nowhere were you more likely to run into old friends and neighbors.
I was just out pruning, anticipating the first day of SO’s Spring Cleaning. Pick-up starts earlier this year than in the past, but also ends earlier. The bypass loppers needed 2 drops of oil.
Do you know the dates for the pick ups? I’ve been checking but the website still says TBD.
the_18th_letter said:
Do you know the dates for the pick ups? I’ve been checking but the website still says TBD.
March 31- April 28.
I had previously seen these dates on the “Calendar”, at a time when I, like you, saw ‘dates TBD” at the DPW page. But now, the DPW page directs you to the Calendar for the pickup dates. IT must have just changed that.
Komarovsky said:
nan said:
Jaytee said:
It’s all the fault of those five guys…
Five guys was a great old greasy spoon restaurant . I forget the name. . .was it Al's? I enjoyed eating there after doing my Drug Fair haul.
It was Syd's, they were one of the non-renewal casualties.
Right! Very sad. That place was authentic and unique.
Now decommissioned, but not before it gave me at least a few decades of serious snow shoveling service.
I remember the “Steel core / Made in the USA” label.
Maybe my best Drug Fair purchase ever.
dickf3 said:
Now decommissioned, but not before it gave me at least a few decades of serious snow shoveling service.
I’ve never seen a snow shovel so disheveled… damn!!
Jaytee said:
I’ve never seen a snow shovel so disheveled… damn!!
dishoveled?
ml1 said:
nan said:
Five guys was a great old greasy spoon restaurant . I forget the name. . .was it Al's? I enjoyed eating there after doing my Drug Fair haul.
pretty sure the five guys jaytee is referring to is Five Guys.
Try it this way:
Five guys used to be a great old greasy spoon restaurant .
mrincredible said:
dishoveled?
dis-hoveled:
DaveSchmidt said:
ml1 said:
nan said:
Five guys was a great old greasy spoon restaurant . I forget the name. . .was it Al's? I enjoyed eating there after doing my Drug Fair haul.
pretty sure the five guys jaytee is referring to is Five Guys.
Try it this way:
Five guys used to be a great old greasy spoon restaurant .
mrincredible said:
dishoveled?
dis-hoveled:
precise language is important
I just found an old Filofax with a 2004 calendar and a Telephone Number list. Drug Fair is listed as 908-964-5700. Just in case you needed to know that.
nan said:
I just found an old Filofax with a 2004 calendar and a Telephone Number list. Drug Fair is listed as 908-964-5700. Just in case you needed to know that.
Please do not try that number
True story: we moved to town shortly after Grunings closed, and we were assigned their old phone number. For decades we had to ruin people's day by telling them that, No, I could not create a cake for their event nor could I sell them chocolate sauce.
max_weisenfeld said:
Please do not try that number
True story: we moved to town shortly after Grunings closed, and we were assigned their old phone number. For decades we had to ruin people's day by telling them that, No, I could not create a cake for their event nor could I sell them chocolate sauce.
I wish Marilyn Schnaars (a friend and member of the family that owned Grunings) was still alive so I could share that memory with her. She would have loved it.
max_weisenfeld said:
Please do not try that number
I was tempted but I resisted. I did do a Google search for the number and no business listings came up.
For a long time our land line would ring with people looking for a particular attorney after we moved into our first house. The printed phone book (remember those?) actually carried his name listed with our number for a couple of years until I was finally able to reach the right person to get rid of it. Some people actually left lengthy messages on our answering machine (remember those?).
Even further back, in our first apartment in Maplewood. We had two phone numbers at the time and several months in, the phone company reassigned one of our numbers to a new resident.
max_weisenfeld said:
Please do not try that number
True story: we moved to town shortly after Grunings closed, and we were assigned their old phone number. For decades we had to ruin people's day by telling them that, No, I could not create a cake for their event nor could I sell them chocolate sauce.
For years, my parents had the same number as a local movie theater. My mom started clipping the movie listing from the newspaper and just reading it to people.
Our landline number was similar to one of one of the student services units at Seton Hall. We would get kids repeatedly calling us and they would not believe us when we told them it was a private number. You couldn't block numbers back in those days and it was really annoying. I think I finally complained to someone at SHU ... don't recall how it got resolved. ironically I actually worked there at the time this was going on.
Ours was previously (or in error in a listing) a doctor's office. Mostly we would get messages requesting an appointment. Occasionally, we would get messages describing symptoms.
sprout said:
Ours was previously (or in error in a listing) a doctor's office. Mostly we would get messages requesting an appointment. Occasionally, we would get messages describing symptoms.
My landline number (yes I still have and use one) must be similar to a doctors office. Since it is an old phone, it does not have caller ID or blocking capacity. This, I can't return calls leaving messages asking urgently for medical advice or service. This aspect can be frustrating. Mostly, I just get a lot of hang-ups these days when callers realize they have reached the wrong number before trying to leave a message.
I still have a land line that’s active, but I removed the old phones. I find the old (973) 761 **** numbers have been recycled and it is annoying. Everyone calls our cell phones, I only use the land line for faxing, and even that is becoming a dinosaur. It’s amazing that we came from a transistor radio to a a hand held computer that takes pictures and makes phone calls…
nan said:
Komarovsky said:
nan said:
Jaytee said:
It’s all the fault of those five guys…
Five guys was a great old greasy spoon restaurant . I forget the name. . .was it Al's? I enjoyed eating there after doing my Drug Fair haul.
It was Syd's, they were one of the non-renewal casualties.
Right! Very sad. That place was authentic and unique.
Agreed! I also miss Sonny Amster's bakery and Tabatchnick's.
It had pretty much everything. Kerosene lamps for the power outage. Pet carriers. Fertilizer. Hand tools. Home and office supplies. Edibles.
Nowhere were you more likely to run into old friends and neighbors.
I was just out pruning, anticipating the first day of SO’s Spring Cleaning. Pick-up starts earlier this year than in the past, but also ends earlier. The bypass loppers needed 2 drops of oil.