Saywell's, 1909 - 2005

In one of the more disturbing stories I've read today, it looks like Hudson, Ohio's dear Saywell's Drug Store will close its doors on October 25 after nearly a century in business. This is a sad day for Hudson -- Saywell's soda fountain and pharmacy have been downtown mainstays for generations. My childhood would not have been the same without Saywell's egg salad sandwiches, ice cream cones and malts. These kinds of establishments just don't exist anymore, which is, I guess, why they're going out of business.

(For the record, since I moved back to Hudson in 2000 I have been putting my money where my mouth is, opting to fill my prescriptions only at Saywell's in order to give them as much business as possible. Not that I am heroic or anything, but I did make every effort to spend money there.)

I wish owner Harvey Hanna well, and I understand the often unpleasant realities of operating a business -- especially when your business in part depends on nostalgia for a time gone by when there were not drive-through CVS pharmacies on each block. I recognize that he can't keep Saywell's open just so people who grew up in Hudson can fondly recall scoops of chocolate-peanut butter ice cream. Such nostalgia rarely pays the rent. But still, I wish it didn't have to be this way.

Main Street, Hudson, Ohio, is plus one Gap and minus one Saywell's. Unfortunately, the world seems only to want the former, when it's the latter we all need.