It’s time to lift a glass (or orca-emblazoned journey mug) to Bartell Medication, the mighty Seattle drugstore chain that has grow to be one other casualty on the intersection of company gamesmanship and consolidation. It was bought by Ceremony Assist in 2020 — the twice-bankrupt chain — and has now offered to CVS, which just announced a rebranding of the remaining 20 or so shops with the Bartell title.
Even newcomers catch on rapidly to the lore of Bartell Medication, based in 1890 in Seattle by George Bartell Sr. and nurtured into what was reportedly the nation’s oldest family-owned drugstore chain. These newcomers quickly study to name it “Bartell’s” for brief. Nobody calls it “Bartell Medication”; that’s akin to referring to the Market as “Pike’s Place.”
Behind the recognizable red-and-white signal is a narrative deeply intertwined with the historical past of Seattle and the Northwest, which makes the rebrand really feel extra vital than only a “native chain swallowed up” story.
Born in Kansas in 1878 however not lower out for farming, Bartell Sr. left residence as a youngster. A pharmacist by 18, he went west, landed on the Lake Washington Pharmacy in Seattle and two weeks later, purchased the store for $3,000 (principally borrowed, in keeping with HistoryLink). He went north to the Klondike Gold Rush, returned and opened a brand new pharmacy. The historical past hits simply stored coming: Bartell opened one of many first soda fountains in Seattle in 1902 and was early to rent feminine pharmacists. He opened a sweet manufacturing facility, a photograph lab and a retailer formed like a triangle. Elvis Presley was a buyer throughout the 1962 World’s Honest. One of many first Bartell-owned shops was on the streetcar route; the “triangle retailer” was on the terminus of the monorail. One among his shops was leveled to make room for the Smith Tower, which opened in 1914, and one other made means for the Westlake growth. There may be little daylight between the place Bartell shops stood and Seattle’s historical past was written.
The chain fell on laborious instances within the Nineteen Sixties and was pressured to shut shops, however rebounded within the Seventies. By 2020, Bartell Medication counted 67 shops in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. However a 135-year legacy was no match for the pandemic. The slide was as a consequence of a few of these issues, or all of these items, relying on who’s doing the opining: Downtowns that didn’t rebound. A buyer base that went from working from residence to working from one other state. The rise of pharmacy profit administration that controls a giant chunk of the market. A dearth of pharmacists. The hollowing out of downtown cores, such that even essentially the most mundane objects are stored in drugstores’ locked instances, forcing customers to search for one of many only a few staff nonetheless there to unlock the razors. The scarcity of major care docs and the corresponding increase in telehealth providers and prescriptions.
The brand new proprietor can speak about “retaining the native taste” all it desires, nevertheless it received’t style the identical. Who has not “stopped off at Bartell’s for a minute” and emerged after a half-hour? Who didn’t stuff stockings with the annual Christmas decoration and well-known native treats like Almond Roca and MarketSpice Tea? What about all that Seahawks-branded merch that symbolized residency within the massive metropolis? Perhaps, Bartell’s shopper, you acquired a ghostly faucet on the shoulder from George Bartell Sr., who ditched the farm, went to city and located gold alongside the best way.
The Bartell departure, like a milestone birthday, signifies a type of mortality. It was one of many landmarks that made this area our area moderately than some generic strip mall. Another firm is not making selections for the great of the communities the place clients dwell. CVS is the world’s second-largest well being care firm. It has the ability to shut a whole lot of shops at a time and influences well being care prices (it owns Aetna). A shrinking variety of firms have an excessive amount of say over our on a regular basis lives; 50,000 native residents simply misplaced entry to UW Medication as a result of it couldn’t attain an settlement with Aetna. If customers need Xanax and a chocolate bar that celebrates the Sounders and a cheese board formed like Washington multi functional acquainted, right-sized retailer, it’s as much as CVS, headquartered in Woonsocket, R.I.
We’re dropping selections and jobs and a few of our tax base due to Ceremony Assist’s unhealthy selections. It took on extra debt than it might deal with making an attempt to compete with Walgreens and CVS, gambled all of it and misplaced. George Bartell Sr.’s firm obtained trampled within the course of. It appears like way over the lack of another acquainted title.
