Vols Love Back to the Future Drug Store
By George Anderson
Long’s Drug Store in Bearden, Tennessee is a local institution in the Knoxville area and it has been that way for as long as the locals can remember. Many of the store’s employees have been around for as long as anyone can remember also, says the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
In a day and age when drive-thrus for prescriptions, one-hour photo labs and
dashboard dining are the norm, Long’s has held firm to tradition. The store
has prospered by taking care of its customers and providing a place where neighbors
can catch up and business executives can negotiate over a cup of Joe at the
lunch counter.
Jack Reese, a former University of Tennessee chancellor and a Long’s regular says, “Bearden is a lot like a small town, and Long’s is the quintessential small-town drugstore.”
Long’s Drug Store in Bearden is not affiliated with the Longs drugstore chain in the western United States.
Moderator’s Comment: Is the Long’s traditional drugstore
model viable in most markets around the United States today?
We have to admit that we loved going to the corner drug
store to get a shake and hang out reading comics when we were small. Of course,
then our parents moved us out to the suburbs and the corner drug store was a
couple of miles away. [George
Anderson – Moderator]