Writing this Ozziegram, I realize we’re living under much different circumstances than what we had just 30 days ago. March started out with the COVID-19 virus seen as almost a backburner issue. The month ended with our everyday lives altered to a degree no one saw coming. In that short 30-day span here at the store we have altered our hours, set up protective shields at the pharmacy and cash registers, and regularly sanitize surfaces, shopping carts, bathrooms, and register areas. We have added another delivery driver as our deliveries have doubled, added a personal shopping service, and now offer curbside pickup of prescriptions and purchases.
Being a small, independent store does have its advantages during times like this. We can be nimble and change how we serve our customers in a very short time frame. I want to think that these extraordinary times are unique but looking back over the 145 years Oswald’s has served Naperville through many challenging times.
Oswald’s Pharmacy in the Recession of 1873
Oswald’s Pharmacy first opened its doors in 1875 in the middle of the recession of 1873 that was further fueled by the railroad strike of 1877. In 1889 a flu pandemic killed over a million people worldwide. 1893 brought another recession caused in part by the Reading Railroad going bankrupt. 500 banks closed and unemployment was at 12%.
In 1915 Louis Oswald bought the store from his father in law W.W. Wickel. The next year a polio epidemic began in New York, eventually sickening over 27,000 and killing 6,000. In the middle of the First World War, the 1918 Spanish flu took a toll of five million, many cases brought on by soldiers living in close quarters and poor nutrition of the world’s population caused by the war. The Spanish flu was floating around until 1920.
Oswald’s Pharmacy in the Great Depression
The stock market crash of 1929, less than ten years later, took unemployment to an unheard-of level of 25%. My grandfather, Harold Kester, had married Louis Oswalds daughter, Helen, in early 1929 and was working in the store. The pharmacy couldn’t support two families at the time and Harold was lucky to get a job as a salesman for Elias Shaker Company, traveling all over the Midwest selling patent medicines and sundries. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the end of the dustbowl drought and WWII ended the Great Depression. But the end of WWII in 1945 caused a mild recession that lasted about a year as the country struggled with demobilizing from a wartime economy.
Grandpa Kester bought the store from Louis Oswald in 1953, just as the country suffered another recession after demobilization from the Korean War began. 1957 brought on the Avian Flu which claimed more than a million lives worldwide (115,000 in the United States alone).
I was in high school when the recession of 1973 hit, which lasted for about two years. Among its causes was OPEC quadrupling oil prices and President Nixon instituting wage-price controls and taking the nation off the gold standard. Remember when you could fill up your car for two or three bucks?
Oswald’s Pharmacy in Early 80s Recessions and the Great Recession
After my father purchased the store from Grandpa Kester, he suffered through back to back recessions in 1980 and 1982. My siblings and I bought the store from Dad in 1991 during a mild recession but things went well for almost 20 years! Then 2008 came along and brought on the worst economic downturn since 1929. We had moved out to Gartner Plaza by then with our expanded offerings of gifts and toys. Things were tough for a couple of years.
I put this article together not to depress or pile on during these troubling times, rather I think it illustrates the resiliency and tenacity of who we are. Tough times will always come but so too will the good!
Thank you so much for supporting our store over the years. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call and we will do everything we can to help. Also, a shout out to our incredible employees. They have worked tirelessly to take care of our customers and come up with solutions to some of the problems presented as this situation has continued to develop. Thanks again and take care of yourself and your family!
Don’t forget we are offering free Naperville deliveries and curbside order pickup 7 days a week to help our customers observe social distancing measures. Click here to read more!
