Thrifty Drug Stores: California's Beloved Neighborhood Pharmacy

In California, there was a drugstore chain so beloved that one of its products — a single scoop of ice cream for 29 cents — became a cultural institution. Thrifty Drug Stores wasn't just a pharmacy. It was a California original.

The Chain

Thrifty Drug Stores was founded in Los Angeles in 1919 and grew into one of the largest drugstore chains on the West Coast, with hundreds of locations across California and the Southwest. The stores were neighborhood anchors — places where you picked up prescriptions, bought household goods, and, most importantly, stopped at the ice cream counter.

The Ice Cream

Thrifty's ice cream was the chain's most beloved feature. Sold at a price that remained remarkably low for decades — 29 cents a scoop for much of the chain's history — it was served in a distinctive cylindrical shape from a round scoop that became iconic. The flavors were classic: chocolate malted krunch, rainbow sherbet, rocky road. For generations of California kids, a trip to Thrifty meant ice cream, and that was reason enough to go.

The ice cream counter was a democratic institution — cheap enough for anyone, good enough for everyone. It was the kind of thing that made a chain drugstore feel like a neighborhood institution rather than a corporate operation.

The Acquisition

Thrifty was acquired by Rite Aid in 1996, and the stores were gradually converted. The Thrifty name disappeared from California's retail landscape. But the ice cream — remarkably — survived. Rite Aid continued to sell Thrifty ice cream in its California stores, a rare case of a beloved product outlasting the brand that created it.

The Thrifty Drug Stores California Retro T-shirt and Tote Bag are for everyone who remembers that 29-cent scoop. Find them in the Los Angeles collection.