Green Soap, Southwood Drugs, New Jersey

This is a very unique label for the drug trade and the only one like it I have come across. The label is printed in tan, red, and gold. The gold is used for the Southwood Drugs logo. This is very fancy for a drug label from the 1960s. The label measures 2.75" Wide x 1.5" Tall and is for Comp. Tinct. of Green Soap, N.F. which is used as a local cleaner for minor skin irritations. It is actually more commonly used as a tattooist's soap. Piercers and tattoo artists use it to prep skin, remove soil, blood, and ink, and as a soak for surgical instruments.

In the late 1940s, Philip Grolnick and his younger brother, Abe, opened Grolnick Drugs at Broad and Susquehanna Streets in North Philadelphia. In 1958, they moved their business to Woodbury Heights and operated Southwood Drugs until 1977 when it was sold. Mr. Grolnick continued to work there until he retired at 87. Philip died at the age of 100.

The Grolnick brothers had kept "profile cards" on their customers and noted when a patient had a bad reaction to a drug, years before New Jersey began requiring pharmacists to do so. They mixed the drugs themselves and stressed personal service, which enabled them to cultivate a loyal clientele in the face of rising competition from drug chains and discount houses. Their store also offered a soda fountain and an assortment of gift items.

Their biggest business day each year was Dec. 24, when the store accommodated a surge of last-minute Christmas shoppers. A staff of about 12 gift-wrapped even the smallest present at no charge. When the employees went home at 6 p.m. to spend Christmas Eve with their families, the Grolnick brothers, who were Jewish, recruited their relatives in Philadelphia to handle the final waves of customers until the store finally closed at 11 p.m.

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