Rexall Drugs in the New York in the 50s

[GoldenAge50s]

My little hometown in WNY state had a Rexall Drug Store & no, they did not carry 1952 Topps, esp. Hi #'s!

In fact, Hi #'s were never available ANYWHERE in my area of Wellsville, NY.

[Brianruns10]

That's interesting. Elsewhere it's been said they did carry them. And in fact, I know at least one collector who put together a 52 set when they were originally released, including the high #s, and he lived in the suburbs of Kansas City. And he got them from a Rexall.

[GoldenAge50s]

I was 12 yrs old in 1952 and used to hit every drug store, every five & dime store & every Mom & Pop store looking for cards. The Rexall Drug in Wellsville never carried any cards at all. Maybe it was just that particular store's choice.

Now that I think of it, when I lived in Attica NY (1946-1952) I used to buy alot of cards at a small drug store downtown & it may very well have been a Rexall affiliate.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by GoldenAge50s

My little hometown in WNY state had a Rexall Drug Store & no, they did not carry 1952 Topps, esp. Hi #'s!

In fact, Hi #'s were never available ANYWHERE in my area of Wellsville, NY.

Fred - I think your recall is pretty accurate. I grew up some distance to the east in Auburn, and never saw the '52 Topps cards in any stores that year. After first seeing them in the hands of a kid who had bought them in NYC, my bud and I went around to a lot of mom&pop and other retail stores looking for Topps cards. I recall that we found some Look N' See and other non-sport issues, but the only baseball cards available were Bowman. Don't know if we hit any Rexall stores, so maybe that was where the motherload was hidden - or, as I tend to believe, Topps' distribution pattern that year was rather strange.