Customers dine at Griffith & Feil Drug in Kenova, W. Va. The pharmacy opened in 1892 with a soda fountain counter that was taken out in 1957 but reopened in 2004.

Coca Cola was first sold to the public at a soda fountain in a pharmacy in Georgia in 1886. Brad’s Drink — to become Pepsi Cola — was created by Caleb Bradham in his pharmacy in 1898.

Chocolate phosphate, anyone? Soda fountains in pharmacies were popular gathering spots a century ago, and in some places they still are. The drinks come mixed with nostalgia.

Driving by Huston's Drugs on Washington Avenue, it's easy to miss the small drugstore despite its royal blue, fantastically retro sign. Although the drugstore closed down sometime in the mid-1990s ...

The Highland Park Soda Fountain in Dallas, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012, shut down in 2018. The Central Drug Store in Bessemer City, North Carolina, open 94 years, closed in 2021.

Soda fountains in pharmacies were popular gathering spots a century ago, and in some places they still are. ... Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. The business news you need.

Long after heyday, soda fountain pharmacies still got fizz. April 22, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. by JOHN RABY / Associated Press ...