When you’re tired of seeing McMansions being built on matchbook-size lots, shopping at monstrous malls or just the frenetic pace of the Post Road, a visit to Southport center is like a trip back into the nineteenth century. All the shops are local, and one gets the feeling that everybody knows one another—and if they don’t, they would sure like to.

switzer’s pharmacy
When you walk into 146-year-old Switzer’s Pharmacy in the heart of the village there’s a sense of time warp. You can almost visualize the popular soda fountain that was there until 1962, where retired Fire Chief Dave Russell and retired Chief of Police Ron Sullivan worked as soda jerks.

The repetitive, monotonous atmosphere of some “chain” drugstores Switzer’s is not. Switzer’s is the oldest business in Southport or Fairfield and dates back to the 1860s when most businesses were located on the harbor catering to ship traffic.

“When the railroad came through, that’s when businesses started to relocate to where they are now,” says Gerry Ringel, a registered pharmacist. Ringel now runs the business along with his brother Jack, a certified technician.

Luin B. Switzer, Gerry and Jack’s grandfather, purchased the pharmacy from K.J. Damtoft in 1895, making him the fourth owner of the pharmacy. In 1925, “Herbie” Ringel, father of the current owners, went to work for Switzer. Herbie became a licensed pharmacist in the late 1930s and bought the business in 1942. He ran the shop for 17 years.

Reminiscing about the place his father ran, Gerry notes “the soda fountain was very popular back in the ’30s. It was about the only place you could get ice cream before the supermarkets. It sat about six people, and we had a couple of tables back then as well.” Herbie died suddenly in 1960. Jack helped his mother run the store while Jerry completed his studies at the New England College of Pharmacy.

The two brothers have run the pharmacy for 34 years, and enthusiastically recount its lore. We’re told that before the Food & Drug Act was created, pharmacists compounded all prescription medicines. In addition, Opium was often prescribed for pain and could be renewed at will. Other common remedies included were cod liver oil, oil of tar and garlic syrup for colds.

Artifacts of Switzer’s long history can be seen lining the walls of the present shop. Some old bottles are labeled Syp. of Bromidon, TR., Quassiae, P.C., Cinch Fl. and Russian Mineral Oil for Constipation. Others read Cider Brandy, Luin B. Switzer, Chemist & Druggist. And an even older bottle reads K.J. Damtoft, Chemist, Southport, Conn.

One of the things that makes Swtizer’s unique amongst pharmacies in Connecticut is that it sells beer, wine and hard alcohol. How can this be? During Prohibition, physicians often prescribed “Spiritus of Frumentis,” or whiskey, for a variety of real or imagined ailments. After Prohibition, pharmacists were able to sell liquor without a prescription, and many pharmacists, including Switzer, bottled their own liquor. Switzer’s is, as its age suggests it should be, “grandfathered” and allowed to continue selling those beverages.

The pharmaceutical business is constantly changing, according to the Ringels, especially with the introduction of more drugs and the control that insurance companies now exert over pharmacies. And big profits can be hard to come by.

“We make a couple of dollars over cost on most items,” Gerry notes. Nonetheless, “sales of just about everything have remained fairly steady, except for tobacco, which has declined dramatically,” brother Jack says.

“We’re prescription specialists. It’s the main source of our income. But we survive on a little bit of everything,” Gerry adds.

Switzer’s is open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday and half a day on Sundays.