Thomas Gounley

TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

The soda fountain at an Ava pharmacy, which for years offered ice cream and other treats at 1950s prices, is shutting down.

In a Wednesday post on Facebook, the soda fountain at Ava Drug — which is owned by Walgreens — said its last day will be Friday.

The Facebook post said the decision is the result of a new regulation enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and linked to a section of the FDA website that discusses menu labeling requirements. The page discusses a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain with at least 20 locations to provide calorie and other nutrition information for standard menu items.

Contacted by the News-Leader, however, Walgreens spokesman Jim Graham said Thursday that "no single regulation by itself was enough to force this decision."

"It was a difficult decision because we know these services were appreciated in their communities," Graham said. "However, as a pharmacy that previously operated soda fountains across the country, we determined some years ago that they are no longer a viable feature for drugstores."

Graham said the soda fountain at the Walgreens-owned Forbes Pharmacy in Houston is also closing. The pharmacies remain open.

David Norman, the onetime owner of Ava Drug who installed the counter in 2005, said he was saddened by the news but that it wasn't unexpected. He said he thinks Walgreens has wanted to get rid of the counter since it purchased the business.

"It's not their model," he said. "Their mindset is, if it doesn't make money, get rid of it."

The fountain at Ava Drug is actually a re-creation of the counter that dished up ice cream beginning in 1950, when the store opened. The original was ripped out in 1982 — by Norman.

Recalling the decision in 2005, Norman told the News-Leader that he'd "decided that it was old-fashioned and wasn't making any money."

On Thursday, Norman, who is also the mayor of Ava, detailed another reason — frequent staff turnover. Norman said he only hired single women to work the counter, because they didn't have a lot of other opportunities. It wasn't long before most got married, however, and he had to seek out additional staff.

Norman said his father — who co-founded Ava Drug — was 62 years old when the fountain was removed and told Norman he was making a big mistake. Business declined, Norman said. But he wasn't about to admit he'd been wrong.

Norman ultimately sold Ava Drug and moved away, purchasing another pharmacy in Mansfield. But, in a twist of events, he ended up re-purchasing Ava Drug in 2003.

By that time, he'd come to agree with his father. The counter reopened on April 30, 2005.

"I knew right off I was going to put the soda fountain back," Norman told the News-Leader that year. "And guess how old I was? Sixty-two — the same age my dad was when I took it out."

The counter offered coffee, soda or a scoop of ice cream for just five cents. Norman said Thursday that he originally intended the prices to be a temporary promotion, but that so many people came into the store he made them permanent.

Yes, Norman said, he definitely lost money on the ice cream, going through upward of 150 gallons a week. But he said foot traffic to the store boomed, and he made up the difference and more when his prescription business doubled.

Norman sold the pharmacy in 2008 to chain USA Drug. The company made little in the way of changes, he said Thursday, and the soda fountain tradition continued.

The New York Times even did a story on Ava Drug in 2011, calling the counter a place "where pocket change still goes a long way" and comparing the scene to a Norman Rockwell painting. Buses sometimes stopped. After school, Norman said, there would be "so many kids you couldn't stir 'em with a stick."

"Every single person who came to the soda fountain was happy ... There aren't many places you can work like that," Norman said.

In 2012, USA Drug was acquired by Illinois-based Walgreens. This time, changes were made. Norman, who had continued working at the store after selling it, grew frustrated and quit for good in the fall of 2013.

Prices at the soda fountain increased, Norman said. Coffee and soda for 75 cents. A scoop of ice cream for 50 cents. But the counter was still there.

"I really expected them to take it out by now," he said. "They didn't want to mess with it."

Walgreens operated soda fountains at its drugstores from the 1920s until the early 1960s, Graham said.

"We had stopped offering this service at our other locations decades ago, long before recent regulations were established," he said.

Norman, who still owns the Ava Drug building, said he learned of the decision to close the counter about a week ago. He said he knows the decision is up to Walgreens, but that he expects the company will see its local business drop. There are three other pharmacies in Ava.

On Thursday, Norman and other former employees went to the soda fountain for lunch.

"You couldn't get a booth there today at noon," he said. "Because everyone's heard they're closing it."