Wall Drug
Encyclopedia
Wall Drug Store, often referred to simply as "Wall Drug", is a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
located in the town of Wall, South Dakota
Wall, South Dakota
Wall is a town in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 766 at the 2010 census...
, United States. It is a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
consisting of a drug store, gift shop
Gift shop
A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....
, restaurants and various other stores. Unlike a traditional shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
, all the stores at Wall Drug operate under a single entity instead of being individually run stores. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
has described Wall Drug as "a sprawling tourist attraction of international renown [that] takes in more than $10 million a year and draws some two million annual visitors to a remote town".
History
The small town drugstore made its first step towards fame when it was purchased by Ted Hustead in 1931. Hustead was a Nebraska native and pharmacist who was looking for a small town with a Catholic churchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in which to establish his business. He bought Wall Drug, located in a 231-person town in what he referred to as "the middle of nowhere", and strove to make a living. Business was very slow until his wife, Dorothy, got the idea to advertise free ice water to parched travellers heading to the newly-opened Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...
monument 60 miles (96.6 km) to the west. From that time on business was brisk. Wall Drug grew into a cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
-themed shopping mall/department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
. Wall Drug includes a western art museum, a chapel based on the one found at New Melleray Abbey
New Melleray Abbey
New Melleray Abbey is located near Dubuque, Iowa. The monks there are members of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance . The abbey is located about 15 miles southwest of Dubuque and is located in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The current Abbot is the Right Reverend Brendan...
near Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
, and an 80 feet (24.4 m) Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
that can be seen right off Interstate 90
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels US 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, at Edgar Martinez Drive S. near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, and its eastern terminus is in...
. It was designed by Emmet Sullivan
Emmet Sullivan
Emmet Sullivan, was an American sculptor. He was born in Powder River, Montana, and worked on Mount Rushmore, and later created the five dinosaurs in Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1934, his first large scale project...
who also created the dinosaurs at Dinosaur Park
Dinosaur Park
Dinosaur Park is a science-fiction novel by Hayford Peirce first published by Tor in 1989 under the title The Thirteenth Majestral and republished as Dinosaur Park in 1994. The nondescript cover of the original book had no relation to the story...
and Dinosaur World
Dinosaur World (Arkansas)
Dinosaur World, earlier known as John Agar's Land of Kong, was a tourist attraction in Beaver, Arkansas. It was a theme park covering , which contained a hundred life-size sculptures of dinosaurs, cavemen, and other prehistoric creatures. The park closed in 2005...
.
The marketing campaign
Wall Drug earns much of its fame from its self-promotion. BillboardsBillboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
advertising the establishment can be seen for hundreds of miles throughout South Dakota and the neighboring states. In addition, many visitors of Wall Drug have erected signs throughout the world announcing the miles to Wall Drug from famous locations, treating it as a geodesic datum. By 1981 Wall Drug was claiming it was giving away 20,000 cups of water per day during the peak tourist season, lasting from Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
until Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
, and during the hottest days of the summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
.
Wall Drug has over 500 miles (804.7 km) of billboards on Interstate 90, stretching from Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to Billings, Montana
Billings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, and is the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in over...
. Wall Drug spends an estimated $400,000 on billboards every year.
Wall Drug today
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
, and coffee for 5 cents. Some popular free bumper stickers read "Where the heck is Wall Drug?", "How many miles to Wall Drug?", and "Where in the world is Wall Drug?".
Back when the U.S. Air Force was still operating Minuteman Missile silos in the Western South Dakota plains, Wall Drug used to offer free coffee and donuts to service personnel if they stopped in on their way to/from Ellsworth AFB (50 miles West on Interstate 90). Wall Drug continues to offer free coffee and a donut to honeymooners, veterans, priests, hunters, truck drivers, and other travelers.
Ted Hustead died in 1999. The following day, the governor of South Dakota began his annual State of the State address
State of the State Address
The State of the State Address is a speech customarily given once each year by the governors of most states of the United States. The speech is customarily delivered before both houses of the state legislature sitting in joint session, with the exception of the Nebraska Legislature, which is a...
by commemorating Hustead as "a guy that figured out that free ice water could turn you into a phenomenal success in the middle of a semi-arid desert way out in the middle of someplace."
Media references
In 1981, Wall Drug was featured in Time magazineTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
as one of the largest tourist attractions in the north. In his 1989 book The Lost Continent
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978 mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988....
, Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
wrote, "It's an awful place, one of the world's worst tourist traps, but I loved it and I won't have a word said against it." The history of Wall Drug was told in a two episode story arc of the podcast The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd is a short audio and video series distributed via podcasting. Created by Grant Baciocco and Doug Price, it is a family friendly show in the style of old-time radio. The show also draws much inspiration from The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. The show first began in April...
.