In my smallish hometown in Pennsylvania, the nearest pharmacy, and the only one we used, was the Westmont Rexall. Yes, I remember the smell. The place is still a pharmacy, but no longer has the Rexall name, and there is now a CVS down the street that has pretty much sealed the smaller pharmacy’s fate.
The itty bitty town in Indiana where I grew up had one drugstore, a Rexall.
That’s where we went for all of our prescriptions and OTC stuff, but it was much more than that. They sold small electrical appliances (radios, alarm clocks, heating pads and electric toothbrushes), cosmetics, greeting cards, candy, books, magazines and warmed nuts. They also had an old school soda fountain/lunch counter. I spent many allowances on green rivers and cherry phosphates while twirling on the stools at the counter.
It was converted to a sundries store when the owner/pharmacist passed away and closed a few years after.
Oh man, warmed nuts. I remember those. I should probably warm some cashews or pecans some day. And I remember the old soda fountain/lunch counters.
There was a Rexall drug store about four blocks from my childhood home, along with a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. And a small laundromat and I believe a beauty parlor.
There’s still one in business at 9th and Irving in San Francisco.
I remember these when I was growing up in Oregon; the only competition that I remember is the local non-chain drugstores. Like the A&P, Rexall was an example of an early chain that got overrun by bigger chains.
Roddy
I was trying to remember the drugstore we went to when I was a kid and that’s it, SupeRx. It was right next to the Kroger which makes sense as I see that Kroger owned the chain. I don’t think we ever had a Rexall in town.
Who do you think bought the stadium naming rights? 
There used to be a Rexall pharmacy in my home town. It hasn’t been a “Rexall” pharmacy for decades now (although still a drug store), but the last time I visited, I saw that they had finally taken down the Rexall sign.
Our local one sponsered the little leauge team I was on in the 70s. Our shirts said Rexall Drug and it was our team name.
I remember Rexal drug stores and the way they smelled.
an old USA franchise drugstore chain. also sponsored Amos and Andy radio show. a chain larger in locations than Walgreens or CVS today. They sold lots of items outside of pharmaceuticals like Walgreens does (minus the food), and had store brands.
The explanation I’d heard was that the R[sub]x[/sub] was adapted from the symbol for Jupiter, but the Wikipedia entry calls this a Folk Etymology, and says it is medieval latin abbreviation for recipe (meaning “Take…”)
“Rexall” undoubtedly turned the “Rx” into the pronounceable “Rex-” and added “-all”, giving a full name (and probably suggesting that they had everything you might need to take).
Rexall! The drug store that isn’t.
We have a store on Hampton beach, NH with Rexall signs but they sell a lot more beach gear than anything drugstore related.
I remember the circular comic book rack. Twelve cents for the regular comic books, 25 cents for the big issues.
I worked for the manufacturing company back in the late '70’s. They had a 7 story building off Kingshighway in St. Louis and it was one of the most interesting places I’ve ever seen. They manufactured multiple different OTC medications but fell onto hard times with some poor (risky) decisions. I heard they ran into some big issues with product liability lawsuits that were critical to an already struggling market environment. Some of the most interesting business personalities I have ever encountered!
There was a Rexall in the strip mall next to the elementary school I attended (Chicago suburbs; late 60s - early 70s), and it was a frequent after-school stop. I bought all my baseball cards there, candy, kites, and other kid-related stuff. There was a penny gumball machine and if you got a gumball with a red stripe, you won a free candy bar.
(I don’t recall any unique smells there, though.)
The smell I remember most distinctly was a lot like Lysol, but blended with other patent medicine aromas, too. A hint of sweeping compound, too. And on occasion those warmed nuts, popcorn and other soda fountain things. Heady aroma!
Does anybody remember stuff like Musterole, Mentholatum, castor oil, cod liver oil, and other repugnant remedies that may have been banned by now? Mercurochrome?
There were a lot of stinking “beauty products” too that would have contaminated the basic pleasant smell.
There’s a Rexall across the street from a branch of my bank here in Cleveland. Only one left that I know of.
Cod liver and castor oils are still pretty commonly available, Mentholatum is a second-tier brand to Vicks VapoRub but still around (and store generics to VapoRub are usually repackaged Mentholatum). Mercurochrome is still around but in name only-- the original mercury-based stuff was taken off the market a decade or so ago, but the name seems to be applied to other mercury-free tinctures like this. Haven’t seen mustard plasters in ages, though.
We had a couple Rexall in my hometown. My aunt worked in one of them. She sold cosmetics and perfumes. They even sent her to some one day workshops for training.
We always had the free calenders hanging in our kitchen. I miss those drugstores. They were usually owned by the local Pharmacist.
You just brought back a memory! That Rexall was right up the street from my childhood house, in a shopping center that also had Safeway ((now Vons) with video games! I became quite the Frogger champ there) and a TG&Y (variety store). My mom and I used to take walks there every couple of days, and I bought many a record album from their bins back the '70s. They had an amazing selection of candy, including some that I couldn’t find anywhere else (like these little Leaf things that were quite tasty).
And yes, there was a distinctive “drug store” smell.