A Message From Bill Anderson
Last week my parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful gathering at their house, filled with children, grandchildren, great- grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins. At the party we had a slide show running with pictures of my folks with friends and family members; from Grandpa Oswald all the way to new great grandson Arlo, these pictures spanned almost 90 years. Truly a wonderful event to celebrate! When these milestones occur in our lives I think it’s natural to begin contemplating our past, present and future. Seeing as Oswald’s has been run by our family for well over a hundred years, the business is naturally a major part of that review. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
A Look Back
Looking back on the history of the store, I can see how it has followed each generation’s ideas and passion to allow it to grow, change and flourish. I think change is the most important verb in that last sentence. To be successful as a family (let alone a family business!) you need to be able to adapt to change. The store originally opened in a small farm town’s business district. It was remodeled and enlarged many times as the town grew from a sleepy little farming community to the Naperville we have today. We are currently located outside of the downtown, on land that once was one of those farms. Ozzie’s had a soda fountain for over 50 years. Today we we sell soda in plastic bottles and don’t carry any ice cream. We had the largest cosmetics department outside of Chicago in the sixties and seventies.
Oswald’s When I Was Growing Up
In the fifties and sixties we sold and rented a lot of medical equipment, which slowly gave way to the enlarged cosmetic card and gift areas of the seventies and eighties. 60 years later we increased the size of the new store by 40% to facilitate our growing medical equipment and power recliner business. Almost all prescriptions were compounded in the 19th century—now almost all prescriptions are pre-manufactured pills. When I was a kid, the store had an 8-foot shelf of toys. Today we have five aisles of toys, games and puzzles! The greeting card section in the fifties was about 12 feet. Our current card section is almost 200 feet! As I sit here and reminisce, the only two sections of the store that seem to be similar to what I knew as a kid are the magazines and candy.
Let Us Know What You Think!
As they say – the only constant is change. Nothing stays the same for long. Now that our medical equipment section is pretty much set we are turning our attention back to the core of the store – OTC medicine, beauty aids, first aid, stationery and household. We obviously could never have been around this long without listening to our customers. We would really love to hear from you about anything you would like to see us carry or expand. Please drop us a line, email or come in and have old fashioned face to face conversation! We thank you for your business and look forward to serving our community for many years to come.
