End off an era

Ron Booth said he likes the Norman Rockwell way of life. The owner of The Corner Pharmacy said his business captures the spirit of Rockwell's paintings. Employees know customers by name, and the owner can be found working behind the pharmacy counter. 
"I enjoy serving people," he said. 
But Booth said he works long hours and "vacation" is a foreign word to him. And after operating The Corner Pharmacy for 34 years, he is retiring. The downtown Leavenworth business, including its soda fountain and lunch counter, will close at 6 p.m. Tuesday. "It's time for me to slow down a little bit," said Booth, who has worked in the pharmacy field for more than 40 years. Two other longtime pharmacists, Bob Blanke and Tom Clark, also will be retiring as The Corner Pharmacy closes. The pharmacy's prescription files have been sold to the CVS Pharmacy in Leavenworth. 
The Corner Pharmacy is located at Fifth and Delaware streets. Booth said there has been a pharmacy at that corner for more than 140 years.He said it's the oldest pharmacy in Kansas to have operated at one location. "It's been a part of the Leavenworth community for a long time," he said. Booth purchased the business in 1981. "It was a struggling pharmacy," he said. He changed the name to The Corner Pharmacy. In 1985, he purchased the AXA building where the pharmacy is located. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. "I restored the building," he said. In 1988, he purchased a neighboring building where he expanded the pharmacy's soda fountain and lunch counter. When Booth purchased the business, he could document that a pharmacy had been operating at that location since 1871. But he later was given a copy of a newspaper article indicating there had been a pharmacy at that corner since 1869. Even though there has been a pharmacy at the corner for more than 140 years, the AXA building did not open until 1905. 
Booth said The Corner Pharmacy is not being forced out of business.  He acknowledged that it is challenging to operate an independent pharmacy, but he said The Corner Pharmacy has remained a strong business. "We're going out at the top," he said. Even though Booth said he is ready to slow down, he will miss operating the pharmacy. He said The Corner Pharmacy has been his passion. "Outside my family, it's everything to me," he said. 
Booth will continue to own the building where The Corner Pharmacy is located. "I'll still be a part of downtown," he said. He hopes the soda fountain and lunch counter will re-open under the operation of a new owner. And he hopes to rent out the remaining pharmacy space for another retail business.
By JOHN RICHMEIER  jrichmeier@leavenworthtimes.com

The Old Man remembers the Mehl & Schott Drug Store at that location.  It had been there since 1888 and was the first place he was every employed.  This was in 1950s when he earned his 50 cents an hour manning the tobacco and candy counter while waiting to be sent out on a bicycle to deliver prescriptions and other items to the homes of customers of the store.