Quebec used to have a law, perhaps still does, that all pharmacists be required to boldly post their real last name on their establishments. That was because small-scale French apothe'caires were stirred to anti-anglo and anti-semitic sentiments before WW II, as Scots and Jews created larger, more varied, more attractive establishments, 'drugstores', and with brand names chosen for marketing purposes.
The real aim was to get the French to boycott the anglo pharmaceutical establishments. But it was not very successful for a long time: note the persistent strength of Pharmaprix (Shoppers' Drug Mart) and the old Kane and Cumberland chains.
The issue completely faded only with the rise of chainstore pharmacies in general, and the Jean Coutu chain, as a serious rival to Pharmaprix, in particular.
There were many members of the Montreal Jewish community who did not at all like breing required to put up a big 'Nudelman's' or 'Shore's' sign on pharmacies in neighbourhoods full of potential French customers. Loads of the latter were indifferent, anyway, and would go to the places with the most competitive prices and the best stock, but the name signs were like code signals for more xenophobic and nationalistic customers, who might scarcely have noticed otherwise.
Could this be a garbling of something? I can remember a Rexall or something on Greene Avenue in the sixties, and it was definitely identifiable as such.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if you do look at drugstores, they do tend to have a plaque in the window identifying the pharmacist. I know they are out there, I can't be certain until I now start watching that it's consistent. It's not bigger than the name of the chain, but it's there.
Note also, the cash register receipts from drugstores has teh pharmacist's name on it. Maybe not, maybe it's the owner's name, but there was a time that that was the pharmacist. A Jean Coutu receipt I just happened to have has the "proprietor's" name right at the top, before the "Jean Coutu". A random Pharmaprix recepit has a person's name at the top, they don't even print "Pharmaprix" except on the back.
Either I read something about this, or I merely noticed. It does seem to be law, a reminder that those chain stores aren't corner stores or small department stores, but actual working drugstores.
Michael
Bollocks. The french were not more antisemite than the english. They certainly did not prevent them from attending Mc-Gill University, from being members of their clubs or from owning property in Hampstead.
ReplyDeleteThis is not possible. The english would never had allowed something like that to pass.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the manager of my local Jean Coutu, the name of the pharmacist/licensee now only has to be posted in the area cordoned off by the plastic pillars denoting the pharmacy part of the store, and is not required to be posted outdoors, although many franchisees continue to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe first franchised Jean Coutu (as opposed to the first corporate store on Mont-Royal E. opened by Jean himself) is still in operation on Beaconsfield Blvd in Beaconsfield, in an old Dominion store, dates back 25-30 years to when Roy Pelletier (who was a classmate of Jean Coutu at UdeM's pharmacy program) took his Roy's Rexall Drugs and moved into the larger premises under the Jean Coutu sign. The phone number for Jean Coutu in Beaconsfield remains, to this day, the number once used for Roy's Rexall Drugs.
A simple check with the rules of the Order of Pharmacists could confirm what is or not required by law.
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