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One job, 57 years
  
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By CYNTHIA LESCALLEET
Beanie Babies. That collectible craze of the mid-’90s brought a surge of business at Buffalo Pharmacy, which has served its community as far back as the hula hoop and 45 rpm records.
In her blue smock with pockets, Lillian Smith weathered it all, sometimes from behind the counter and sometimes from behind-the-scenes.
This week, Smith turned 80 and retired from her post of 57 years.
“You were here when it opened and here when it closes,” said pharmacist-owner Steve King, who presented her with a commemorative plaque on Thursday.
While most of the staff will be making the shift to H-E-B Pharmacy, Smith opted to retire.
“I think it’s about time,” she said. “I liked the customers. I liked the people I worked with through the years. I liked the people who’ve owned it.”
When Smith started in 1951, there was no bus service to the newly built shopping center. She’d get a ride there after arriving each day at Avalon Drug in River Oaks, which was one of three pharmacies operated by a trio of owners. (The third was the Tanglewood Pharamcy.)
When that group of pharmacists split their business by each retaining one, Smith remained at Buffalo Pharmacy, working with Perry Willhite until he sold it to Floyd Burnett. Burnett operated the business until he sold it to King in 2002.
In addition to its underlying prescription business, the neighborhood shop carried a little of everything, she said, from cigarettes and candy to gifts and office supplies.
No milk, though. For that, there was the grocery store elsewhere in the center or the convenience store next door, now home to Buffalo Grille, which remains open.
Through boom and bust, the now mostly-razed shopping center attracted a range of tenants, including a game room, fitness center and night clubs, one of which was briefly a gay bar.
Initially, Smith worked at Buffalo Pharmacy behind the counter in the fountain and grill area, which was carpeted over and used for gifts and sundries by the current owner.
Burnett used to tell Smith the fountain service was 90 percent of his headache and 10 percent of his business, she said, chuckling.
But the space was an attraction for neighborhood regulars on-and-off for decades, she said. The counter and especially the booths were a bit of a hangout for area youths at one point, she said. People waiting for their prescriptions to be filled could grab a cool drink or quick meal. Some who ate there were not customers of the pharmacy at all. They just liked the grilled cheese and those who prepared and served it.
Elsewhere in the closing store are a few examples of various owner regimes. There is, for example, a small patch of green paint from its early years, as well as aisle markers that retain their mid-century modern lines. Now empty, heavy wooden shelving with glass shelves once held a full range of cosmetics, fragrances and costume jewelry. Management kept the toys on display in the windows but behind the counter to tempt children but keep them from playing with them, she said.
Which brings us back to Beanie Babies. Smith recalled seeing customers stalking the delivery truck during the peak of interest in the stuffed toys. For her regulars, she’d stash a few of the ones in demand out of sight.
That service alone converted a few toy-only buyers into loyal pharmacy customers.
In her blue smock with pockets, Lillian Smith weathered it all, sometimes from behind the counter and sometimes from behind-the-scenes.
This week, Smith turned 80 and retired from her post of 57 years.
“You were here when it opened and here when it closes,” said pharmacist-owner Steve King, who presented her with a commemorative plaque on Thursday.
While most of the staff will be making the shift to H-E-B Pharmacy, Smith opted to retire.
“I think it’s about time,” she said. “I liked the customers. I liked the people I worked with through the years. I liked the people who’ve owned it.”
When Smith started in 1951, there was no bus service to the newly built shopping center. She’d get a ride there after arriving each day at Avalon Drug in River Oaks, which was one of three pharmacies operated by a trio of owners. (The third was the Tanglewood Pharamcy.)
When that group of pharmacists split their business by each retaining one, Smith remained at Buffalo Pharmacy, working with Perry Willhite until he sold it to Floyd Burnett. Burnett operated the business until he sold it to King in 2002.
In addition to its underlying prescription business, the neighborhood shop carried a little of everything, she said, from cigarettes and candy to gifts and office supplies.
No milk, though. For that, there was the grocery store elsewhere in the center or the convenience store next door, now home to Buffalo Grille, which remains open.
Through boom and bust, the now mostly-razed shopping center attracted a range of tenants, including a game room, fitness center and night clubs, one of which was briefly a gay bar.
Initially, Smith worked at Buffalo Pharmacy behind the counter in the fountain and grill area, which was carpeted over and used for gifts and sundries by the current owner.
Burnett used to tell Smith the fountain service was 90 percent of his headache and 10 percent of his business, she said, chuckling.
But the space was an attraction for neighborhood regulars on-and-off for decades, she said. The counter and especially the booths were a bit of a hangout for area youths at one point, she said. People waiting for their prescriptions to be filled could grab a cool drink or quick meal. Some who ate there were not customers of the pharmacy at all. They just liked the grilled cheese and those who prepared and served it.
Elsewhere in the closing store are a few examples of various owner regimes. There is, for example, a small patch of green paint from its early years, as well as aisle markers that retain their mid-century modern lines. Now empty, heavy wooden shelving with glass shelves once held a full range of cosmetics, fragrances and costume jewelry. Management kept the toys on display in the windows but behind the counter to tempt children but keep them from playing with them, she said.
Which brings us back to Beanie Babies. Smith recalled seeing customers stalking the delivery truck during the peak of interest in the stuffed toys. For her regulars, she’d stash a few of the ones in demand out of sight.
That service alone converted a few toy-only buyers into loyal pharmacy customers.
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