Arenson's Pharmacy
Presentation to the Annandale History
Club
May 7, 2012
Mark Arenson
Account: Early Drug Stores in Annandale
Mark’s parents, George and Maureen Arenson, purchased a
Rexall Drug Store in Annandale in 1971.
The drug store was on the northwest corner of Oak Avenue and Chestnut Street in
a building which is now the All Things Good gift shop.
Mark was ten years old when the family moved from Ohio to Annandale.
George Arenson, a pharmacist since 1955-56, graduated from
North Dakota State University and served as an Army pharmacist for a few years.
Annandale was a small town with a vibrant downtown.
Every little town had a drug store or two. The customer had choices, and
there was competition. This was before
the big box stores, mail orders and internet orders.
In a short time more space was needed. Neil Bahr owned a large building
across the street from the first Arenson’s drug store. George Arenson rented
one-half and later purchased the building from Neil Bahr.
The move was accomplished in one Saturday night.
A friend, Ross Eggestein, was director of the Camp Challenge group home
for veterans at Swartout Lake. Ross
Eggestein and the Camp Challenge residents transferred the merchandise in
shopping carts and wheelbarrows across the street.
Arenson’s was open for business in the new location in one day.
Former Tenants:
The Bahr building was built in 1929 and was used as a bus garage until
the 1950s when the buses were moved to a different location.
Neil Bahr (1907-1991) purchased the bus service from his father in 1934
and sold it in 1973. The building had two
garage doors opening to the main street.
Tires were stored in the basement.
Modifications were made to the building in the 1970s.
There were about 14 apartments in the building.
Some longtime residents were Mrs. O’Loughlin, Mrs. Johnson and Rose Lee.
Neil Bahr rented space in the north side of the building to several
tenants. Mary McAlpin had a beauty shop
to the left of the door. There was also a
one chair barber shop in space rented by Virgil Johnson (later Virgil Johnson
acquired a vacant lot across the street and built a shop, now State farm
Insurance). There also had been a shoe
store in the building. John Meyer, a draftsman, rented space.
Jim Caswell had the Village Fix It shop in the building.
Mark found a survey in the basement that showed that at one time there
was a gas pump on the Bahr building’s side parking lot.
Elwyn Nordberg, Annandale photographer, rented space for his studio in the
lower level of Arenson’s for 17 years (1971-1988).
Employees:
George Arenson didn’t get many days off.
He worked long hours. The first
pharmacist he hired stayed one year. In
1974 he hired a young man named Craig Bechtold.
Craig Bechtold is still the head pharmacist at Arenson’s. Maureen Arenson
was a cashier and clerk. She also
assisted with accounting, billing, banking, displays, etc.
George Arenson’s mother, Frances Arenson, also worked in the drug store.
Henrietta “Penny” Anderson ran the front of the store and scheduled the
workers. At one time the clerks wore pink
and white striped smocks. A 1972
Arenson’s first anniversary photo includes George, Maureen and Frances Arenson,
Penny Anderson, Joyce McCain and Helen Mattila.
Soda Fountain:
Arenson’s had a fountain in the store featuring malts, sundaes and a
50-cent dish of ice cream. The 10-cent
ice cream cone was a popular promotion.
Friday nights were big, because Arenson’s was across the street from the Dale
Theater (now Annandale Embroidery). The
Dale Theater closed in 1976. The fountain
was a lot of work. The fountain had been in the Candy Castle. The Candy Castle
was in business from about the late 1940s to the late 1960s, when it became a
pizza place owned by Russ Hart. Russ Hart
sold the fountain to George Arenson. George Arenson tired of the fountain and
sold it. He later regretted it,
because the fountain was beautiful and highly collectible. Arenson’s still
serves ice cream cones in several favors.
Community Projects:
There was one doctor in town, Dr. Lester Bendix, who practiced in
Annandale from 1930 to 1982. His office was across the street from Arenson’s.
There was concern about medical care should Dr. Bendix decide to retire.
George Arenson worked with others on the drive to secure the Heart of the
Lakes Clinic, which opened in 1974 with Dr. Mary Stiles.
Dr. Stiles stayed until 1987, followed by Dr. Ronald Brown.
This building is now occupied by Jeffrey Holmberg, DDS and Dr. Uecker,
Chiropractor. Concern for senior members of the community resulted in the
Annandale Care Center, a 60-bed facility that opened in 1982.
Mark Arenson was a hockey player before there was a rink in Annandale.
George Arenson and other businesses supported the hockey program.
Arenson’s sponsored a softball team in the 1970s. Arenson’s had an
old-fashioned awning until 1980 when the downtown canopy system was built to
resemble Annandale in the 1890s. A June
7, 1980, Shop Talk publication
featured a photo of downtown business people standing on and under the new
canopy in front of Dayton’s furniture store.
Promotions:
Myloe Loberg of the Annandale
Advocate had a publication called
Shop Talk. Annandale businessmen had
once-a-month promotions, including ten-cent hot dog feeds, pumpkin pie, sweet
corn in the park, Crazy Days, etc. If a
business didn’t get an ad or money in, it didn’t participate in the promotion.
They also had Santa on Main Street with a photographer. There were
drawings where participants must be present to win.
Arenson’s also had in-store promotions and drawings.
There were many ways to reach out to customers.
In 1981 Arenson's became a Snyder Drug store, and it
transformed the way of doing business. It
was a good fit for Arenson’s. Every week
Snyder’s had a flyer or one page advertisement.
Snyder’s Super Buys were very popular.
Some people drove to all the Snyder’s stores to get the Super Buys.
It was fun and generated business.
Technology:
Written prescriptions needed to be organized and sorted.
They were placed in numerical order in binders.
There were racks of binders that covered the whole back of the pharmacy.
Prescriptions needed to be kept for seven to ten years.
Prescription labels were typed on a typewriter.
Arenson’s first computer had MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk
Operating System). It was very crude and
mainly printed labels. Prescriptions were
on disks that looked like 45 rpm records.
Each disk was one sided and held 500-700 entries.
When it ran, it sounded like a hay baler.
Arenson’s was one of the first pharmacies to have the system, and Mark
was able to work with Arenson’s computer system while in college through a U of
M work and study program.
Inventory was done on a Sunday by Arenson’s employees and
their kids. Dinner was served and they
stayed until every item in the store was listed in a notebook.
Then the listings required hours of bookkeeping.
Now pharmacy inventory is calculated as orders are filled.
It includes shelf control in the front of the store.
Arenson’s has a Telxon handheld inventory scanner, and in four hours the
store is counted. Their second computer
was a QS1, which improved efficiency and bookkeeping.
A point-of-sale cash register system run by the pharmacy
system saves on bookkeeping and helps intgegrate merchandise.
There are 15 departments in the store.
The pharmacy accounts for the majority of Arenson’s business.
There was a celebration when Arenson’s reached the milestone of one
million prescriptions filled.
Pharmacists are not computer geeks.
There is a lot of work and continuing education to learn how to use the
equipment. In the past they did their own maintenance and upgrades.
Now Arenson’s has their third computer system and the upgrades are done
automatically from off site.
An automated pill counting system was tried in the store.
Many variables, such as weight and size of the pill, needed to be
calibrated. Over time, it was easier to
count the pills manually.
Now all records are electronic. Medicare
Part D went into effect January 1, 2006.
Pharmacies have to pay to participate, and they keep all the records for the
government.
Deliveries:
Every Tuesday a delivery took two to three hours to unload.
The trucks came to the loading dock in back, and a 60 foot roller track
was used to get the merchandise into the store.
In 2002 a street was taken out to make room for the new Annandale City
Hall, and trucks could no longer get to the back door.
Now all the merchandise has to be unloaded from Oak Avenue (aka Main
Street).
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Mark Arenson started working for his dad in June 1981.
George Arenson’s goals were to make the business better and to grow the
business.
When George Arenson wanted to retire in 1990, he offered
the company to Mark and his brother, Jon.
At the time Jon had other ideas, so Mark Arenson bought the business, becoming
owner, operator and manager. Jon has been
working in the business the last few years.
Jon is a pharmacy technician and helps with customer deliveries,
insurance billings, etc. George Arenson
continues to advise Mark, and recently suggested a photo kiosk promotion of ten
10-cent prints on Mondays.
Arenson’s Pharmacy was a private, independent drug store
for ten years and was part of Snyder Drug for 26 years (1981-2007).
Snyder Drug began to have problems and Mark noticed the change.
In 2007 Arenson’s became affiliated with Health Mart, and the association
brought many good things. In 2011
Arenson’s became affiliated with Thrifty White, a company that specializes in
small town main street pharmacies.
Mark brought a display of Arenson Pharmacy photos taken
over the years.
Notes by Annandale History Club Secretary
Note: In 2016 Arenson Annandale Pharmacy closed and transferred all ownership and inventory to Thrifty White Pharmacy located on Highway 55 in Annandale.
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