Older businesses are old friends
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Margie Simon has been serving up fresh limeade and milkshakes at Midlothian Apothecary's lunch counter since 1976.

They were the mainstays of Chesterfield County's business community long before Wal-Mart, Eckerd, CVS and even Ukrop's arrived. Considered neighbors by their customers, the following are just a sample of the older businesses in Chesterfield that have contributed to the county's growth, feeling of community and history.

Midlothian Apothecary

To locals, it feels like Midlothian Apothecary has always been there, dispensing medications, freshly squeezed limeade and friendly conversation.

Early Hall opened the pharmacy in the early 1950s in the current Midlothian Apothecary location. In 1990, Everette Darby and his wife Janet, both pharmacists, jumped at the chance to buy Midlothian Apothecary when it was for sale. Today, they run a compounding pharmacy.

"[Midlothian Apothecary is] definitely the best [place] of our careers," said Everette, as he sat in one of the wooden booths at the back of the shop behind the lunch counter and soda fountain while Janet kept a steady pace behind the pharmacy counter, filling prescriptions.

David Packard is the second generation of his family to run Packard's Rock Shop. The business opened in 1962.

"We enjoy working for ourselves, and we like the people," said Everette. "Some come in every day. We've made a lot of good friends here."

As customers enter the pharmacy, heads turn at the fountain and more often than not, someone says, "Hi Ruth or Bill or Don."

"The best advertisement [for the pharmacy] is the fountain," admitted Everette.

Margie Simon has been the cook for 30 years - long before the Darby's bought the business. She fries bacon for BLTs and hamburgers, but the soda fountain is better known for its homemade chicken, tuna and egg salads and fresh limeade and milkshakes. It's a social center much like it must have been in the 1950s.

"We're still in business because of customer service and loyalty," said Darby.

Packard's Rock Shop

The Packard family immigrated from Lancashire, England in the early 1600s, but didn't get into the stamp and rock business until several centuries later. Packard's Rock Shop opened for business selling stamps in a frame building at the back of the Midlothian Apothecary parking lot in 1962. It had shelves that were perfect for stamps and lots of windows.

Racecar drivers stop by Styles Bi- Rite on Friday nights before heading to the races at Southside Speedway.

"We put the rocks in the windows for decoration, and people came in asking to buy them," laughed Alice Packard, a 91-year old mother of four sons.

She started her stamp business with a box of stamps about half the size of a shoebox, and then grew into the rock business. Her husband worked for the Associated Press for 37 years and when he died, Alice turned the business over to her son David.

They moved to a brick building located on the site of the Red Barn in Midlothian and then moved into the Red Barn when their previous location was torn down to make way for the bigger building. The shop has been at the current site for 21 years and now sells not only stamps and rocks, but also jewelry findings, said David.

The bookshelves are an eclectic mix of stamp albums, mineral books, binders and folders. Packard bought seventeen 45-year-old Berg motion showcases to display rocks and gems, and uses three for parts. Push a button and the shelves rotate, showing a new display of rocks and gems at each turn.

And although every part of the shop is crammed with rock samples, gems, strings of beads, and boxes and folders of stamps, it takes Packard only a moment to put his hands on a customer's request.

Styles Bi-Rite

Not the typical convenience store, you can buy on and off-road diesel and racing gas for your racecar at Styles Bi-Rite on Route 360 at Genito Road. If you don't have one, you can still ogle a few on Friday nights, since many of Southside Speedway's racecar drivers stop by Styles Bi-Rite to fuel up before they race.

A stroll through the store reveals evidence of Styles' rural roots. Customers can buy cast-iron bells, hand trucks, twine, deep-fried peanuts in the shell, cotton candy and Garage Sale and Beware of Dog signs as well as the more typical convenience store purchases of candy, gum and aspirin.

On November 13, 1965, Styles Bi-Rite opened as an independent grocery store in a rural area, using the Bi-Rite name for advertising purposes. It also had gas and diesel pumps and was the last stop for truckers before Skinquarter Road near Amelia.

For early Brandermill residents, the store was the closest place to "pick up a few things." The nearest grocery store was Ukrop's in Sycamore Square, which opened in 1975, just before the first residents moved into Brandermill.

Styles gradually changed from a grocery store to a convenience store through the years as the Route 360 corridor became more populated, said Wesley Spain, operations manager.

Today, customers can pay 50 different bills at Styles, buy money orders or money grams and, of course, buy lottery tickets. A table and chairs sits near the front counter, so those who buy instant tickets can check their numbers. Styles is the number one seller in the state of instant lottery tickets except for the border stations, said Lori Woodel, assistant manager and bookkeeper.

In February, Spain will retire and Woodel will become operations manager. The 46-yearold has worked in the store since she was 17. The family connection will still be there, said Spain. "If [Walter Styles] needed my help, I'd be here in a heartbeat."

Styles is closing its store in Ettrick, but still has another on Belmont Road.