In search of an American-style drug store

Some friends and I have been knocking around some ideas today about the pharmacies in Israel. The subject came up because I was wondering aloud (well, the social-media equivalent of "aloud", i.e. in a status update) whether there are any U.S.-style pharmacies in Israel, or if there is some protectia or cartel rule (perhaps a law left over from the Ottomans) that pharmacies must be difficult to access and void of common products.

I'm talking about products that are not only over-the-counter, but off-the-shelf, in the U.S. If you know what you need, and it's legal, you don't have to talk to a pharmacist first. Here, it seems that any products more potent than cosmetics have to be requested through a consultation with a trained professional, after standing in line.

Thinking of this in terms of a business, it makes me wonder if the problem is just the lack of shelf space, as in many small retail shops that have merchandise stacked up from wall to wall, top to bottom and hanging from the ceiling, and you have to ask a salesperson for help in finding it and retrieving it, as well as revealing the price to you. This is common in hardware stores or shops selling household cleaning supplies. Given the tiny width of some of these ancient storefronts, probably resulting in low overhead for the shopkeeper, it makes economic sense. There is a "grocer" (for lack of a better term) in the shuk who operates on the same principle: you tell him what you need and he fetches it. The selection is good, the prices are great, and he has a full day of short-spurt running and ladder climbing.

This setup can work as a disadvantage, though, and that's how I tend to view it. I prefer to browse and choose the items I want to buy without getting into a conversation with a salesperson, if I can avoid it. I don't want to have to ask them to fetch it, and now that I've entered into that relationship, I don't want to have to ask the price (the price that they have decided that I, who is speaking Hebrew with an English accent, must be able to afford), and notify them of my decision. (Lest you forget, I am a salesman, in a retail store located in what is probably the highest cash-flow district of Jerusalem. I know of what I speak.)

This is equally true in a pharmacy, where I'm more likely to recognise what I need on the shelf, and in most cases would prefer not to explain to the paid professional what I want and why I need it.

One of my friends gave what I suppose is the real answer: that Misrad HaBriut (Health Ministry) rules are simply different from FDA laws. That probably explains a lot of legitimate differences. Over-the-counter products in the U.S. may only be only available by prescription here -- or at least, based on the mitigating judgement of the pharmacist. But I still wonder if some of it may be due to the mentality that "that's just the way we've always done things here", hearkening back to a past when pharmacists were fully trained in the medicine of the day and the general public was less educated.

Admittedly, part of my problem is just my embarrassment with my language barrier. I don't know what the products that I need are called here. For example, who would've ever suspected that bleach should be called "economica" or "javel water"? My Hebrew is pretty good, but I don't know how to describe some of them. How about hydrogen peroxide? For that particular item I am tempted to show them the chemical symbol (H2O2) or draw the molecule for them.

And I also don't speak Russian, which seems to be the required first language of all pharmacists in this country.

I'd like to find an American-style pharmacy here that fits these three criteria:

1. It sells basic, non-prescription products that you'd expect to find in any drug store in the U.S., even in the smallest of backwater villages: aspirin, Benadryl, vitamin C, hydrogen peroxide, Vicks Vaporub, antacid, etc.


2. This non-prescription stuff should on the shelf so you can get it without waiting in line for a consultation. I don't think it's an exaggeration to want to pick out the items I just listed based on my own free will and buying power.


3. It's optional, but it would be nice to have an ice cream and a soda fountain counter as well. As long as I'm dreaming, I'd might as well dream big.