Have you been to Wall Drug?

Anyone out here will ask you if you go to South Dakota, "Have you been to Wall Drug?"



Now, Dave and I can say yes.

This was a great marketing scheme started by the wife of a pharmacy owner in 1931. She thought with Mt. Rushmore bringing new people out West, they might stop in the sleepy town of Wall for a free drink of ice water. Maybe while they sip their ice water, they might buy something else. So, she put up a meager sign advertising free ice water.


And the rest was history.



Now, the children of those store owners have dozens of signs hundreds of miles up and down I-90. We saw one that advertised Wall Drug 399 miles away. Some are rather comical. Most are on trailers and just parked in a field. I can imagine someone calling up a trucker and asking, "Did your 18-wheeler break down? Can we buy the trailer? Nah, we don't want to use it. We're gonna paint it and park it in a field." Forget billboards. Just paint a truck trailer and park it by a bobwire fence. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this phenomenon.



Wall Drug has since expanded to be the size of a shopping mall that's bigger than a city block. They've got a soap shop, a clothing store, an arcade, a cafe, and a pharmacy. You could buy just about anything cowboy you'd possibly want. They'd make Texas proud. Even if you didn't go for horseshoe decor, there are lots of opportunities to spend your money. Dave and I got our free glass of ice water, a few cups of 5-cent coffee, a free bumper sticker, and headed down the road.



But now we can say we've been to Wall Drug.