Arlington Heights Pharmacist Celebrates 40th Anniversary

In a league of her own, Nancy Harstad was one of the few women who laid the blaze for the pharmacy occupation.   

Harstad, 65, a pharmacist at the , 122 North Vail Avenue in Arlington Heights, is celebrating her 40th anniversary with the retailer.

"40 years went by so quickly," Harstad said. "The job has been exactly what I worked for."

After graduating with a pharmacy degree from Drake University in 1970,Harstad joined the company as a part-time pharmacist floater in 1972 and worked at a few different OSCO Drug stores in Chicago’s suburbs.

Harstad said back in the 1960s and 70s, being a pharmacist was mainly a man's occupation. The pharmacy field was male dominated when Harstad joined, with women making up only 10 percent of pharmacists. 

"I had received prejudice from professors, they were thinking, I was only there to get married and have kids." She said her professors never thought she'd stay for 40 years. When Harstad began as a pharmacist, customers wanted to talk to a man.

"But that has changed," Harstad said. 

Today, however, more than 46 percent of American pharmacists are women.  

Harstad recalls many major advances in the pharmacy field over the decades.  

"I started off on a typewriter, then electric and now with the computer, there have been more enhancements," she said. 

Harstad said with the new technology, she's able to look up doctor names, find documents, look up inventory in other stores and count and fill orders correctly. 

When she first became a pharmacist, prescription labels and customer records were hand-typed. Most materials are now done more quickly and efficiently with computers and automatic printers.  

In 1991, she switched to full time, working at the Rolling Meadows store for nine years, before moving to the Vail Avenue store in Arlington Heights, in 1997, where she has been ever since.

Harstad did serve a brief stint at the Arlington Heights location from 1972 to 1976.   

"I love this little store," she said. "It has a small town feel and everybody is related." 

Other advances over the years are the drugs themselves, Harstad said. "Drugs change all the time," she said. "The actual engineering, that's special, it's amazing what they do."

In the fast society we live in today, people want their prescription as soon as the drive up to the pick-up window, Harstad explained.

"There's a lot that goes on before you get the drug," she said. "Each prescription is custom made for you, we can't be done like fast-food." 

Harstad’s 40th anniversary coincides with OSCO Drug’s 75^th anniversary this year. 

She has been with the pharmacy chain for more than half of its history. Harstad has thought about retirement but she doesn't plan to slow down. "I'm looking for the next thing I can do with my education," she said.

Harstad said she appreciates OSCO because the company has allowed her to be flexible, as her life has changed. 

Today, there are 173 Jewel-Osco Pharmacies in Illinois Iowa and Northwest Indiana. 

OSCO Timeline

1937: The first store opens in Rochester, Minn., under the Pay-Less Drug Store name.  George Hilden, the store’s general manager, would become the chairman of OSCO Drug 30 years later.

1938: Pay-Less becomes Self-Service Drug, Inc., with the opening of its second store in Mason City, Iowa.  During the next three years more stores open in Iowa and Illinois. 

1942: Self-Service Drug, Inc.is dissolved and succeeded by Owners Service Company, from which the name OSCO is coined. The OSCO office is also moved from Waterloo, Iowa to Chicago. 

1961: With 31 stores in six Midwestern states, OSCO merges with JEWEL Companies. 

1962: The first Chicago OSCO Drug store opens.  The first JEWEL-OSCO grocery and pharmacy combination store also opens during the early 1960s.  

1984: JEWEL Companies is purchased by American Stores Company.  

1999: ALBERTSONS purchases American Stores Company, including JEWEL-OSCO. 

2006: SUPERVALUE purchases ALBERTSONS, including JEWEL-OSCO. 

2012: Today, JEWEL-OSCO operates 173 pharmacies in Illinois, Iowa and Northwest Indiana.