Inside the Old-School N.Y.C. Apothecaries Selling High-End Skin Care, Prescriptions, and More
Ian Ginsberg says he’s in the “feel-good business.” The CEO and President of C.O. Bigelow—the country’s oldest pharmacy—joins me via Zoom wearing a crisp white t-shirt and an Officine Generale navy blazer from his office above their historic Greenwich Village location. With a perfectly manicured head of hair and a million-dollar smile, he proudly shows off an eclectic mix of artifacts the store has generated since it was founded in 1838: one bottle bearing the original embossing still echoed in today’s packaging of the in-house brand; another that used to contain the original musk fragrance from 1905, which his team precisely duplicated for sale today.
Since it opened its doors, Bigelow has served everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Lou Reed, who, Ginsberg says, despite his reputation for being a curmudgeon, “loved us.” The iconic pharmacy to this day, counts a who’s who of New York as clients. “These people don’t run their own errands—but the one errand they do run is when they come to Bigelow’s,” Ginsberg says.
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One such person is Isaac Mizrahi, who visits Bigelow about once a month. “I love the continuity of being a client at Bigelow,” he tells Robb Report in an email. “I’ve lived in the same place nearby for over 35 years and I love knowing some things don’t change. I love their commitment to quality. The fact that it isn’t run by a corporation.” The last time he visited, he filled his cart with soaps, emery boards, and a pre-shave treatment he swears by, called King of Shaves.
“I don’t really take advice from people but when they recommend something I will usually try it,” he says.
Asked for the products he turns to again and again, Mizrahi says, “I’ve used Prosaro which is an Italian brand but they have a few good ones. The other essential thing for me is the bath salts from Mistral that smell like verbena. I’ve given this to people and they all become fans.” His most important must-have? “Xanax!”
This element of the apothecary business is what makes New York City’s locations feel so singular: where else can you get both prescription medications and an array of luxury goods? and provides an array of luxury goods. I joke to him that it seems like a dream to be able to pick up my benzo of choice (Ativan, personally) and some luxury shave cream all in one go. So when I talk to Ian, I have one question I absolutely need answered: What is an apothecary?
“Technically, in the colonial states, you’re not allowed to call yourself an apothecary unless there’s a pharmacist inside,” says Ginsberg, who is a third-generation pharmacist himself. Though the FDA has largely stopped enforcing that regulation, Bigelow is one of a remaining group that qualifies under the original rules.
French pharmacy culture has firmly lodged itself in the grooming zeitgeist (there are countless social media posts dedicated to these enterprises; American audiences, ostensibly, are more accustomed to picking up prescriptions in one place and high-end skincare in another.) But an apothecary is both a functional pharmacy and a retail business. In the case of New York’s best examples, they’re neither CVS nor Bergdorf Goodman, but something between the two, offering a preternatural shopping experience where you can get both Prilosec and Acqua di Parma.
Just uptown is Zitomer Pharmacy, which boasts a similarly encyclopedic array of products. “We carry everything from toilet paper to $10,000 mirrors,” says Sharon Sternheim, the president and CEO of the Madison Avenue fixture. “Zitomer is your home away from home,” she tells me. “We know your name, we know your parents, we know your grandparents.” Zitomer, which underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation during the Covid-19 pandemic, occupies a three-story, 15,000-square-foot space complete with a floor dedicated to grooming and health aids—including, like Bigelow, a pharmacy.
Beyond the fact that you can get La Mer here, what sets Zitomer apart is an empathetic dedication to really great service.
“We have a doorman on both sides that opens the door and carries packages,” says Sternheim. “We will throw a kid in a taxi if your child is sick and you need antibiotics in minutes. The doctors in the neighborhood love us because they know that we take care of their parents and we guide them through prescribing to the customers.”
High-profile events nearby mean the store is often filled with a who’s who of Hollywood and New York’s elite. Nearby luxury hotels such as The Carlyle work directly with Zitomer to deliver anything their guests have forgotten to pack. (When I joke that occasionally I’ll be helping a styling client pack for a trip and they’ll forget something as fundamental as a bathing suit for a beach vacation, Sternheim says, “We have bathing suits!”)
Both stores take pains to cater to male clientele. Zitomer added a section for men’s products during its recent renovation, and Bigelow is famous for— among other things—its Italian-made shaving cream, produced by a family business in Florence. For men looking for a recommendation from an expert, Ginsberg rattles off a list of luxury colognes including Santa Maria Novella—particularly the Tabacco Toscano scent—Arquiste, and D.S. & Durga, and small, family and independently owned brands that he’s hand selected for the shop including Flamingo Estate and Samson’s. “We also carry amazing razors,” he adds. “We do our own razors and shaving brushes.”
Uptown at Zitomer, the assortment includes everything from Sisleyum for Men’s Anti-Age Global Revitalizer (available for both dry and normal skin types), Khiel’s shaving cream, and shampoo and conditioner from Grown Alchemist.
What strikes me most, after hours spent talking with both Ginsberg and Sternheim is not their impressive selections of luxury goods, nor their precise and studied understanding of medicine, but the pure, disarming warmth of their institutions. Bigelow and Zitomer are breaths of fresh air in a time when wellness is an increasingly complicated landscape; when aesthetic beauty is measured not in the presence you command when you walk into a room but in the number of steps in your skincare routine and the cc’s of injectables you’ve endured to retain your youthful parlor. At Zitomer as at Bigelow, beauty begins inside—in the comfort you feel calling to ask about a prescription, the confidence you feel in trying a new sunscreen, and the frivolous delight found in adding a simple step to your grooming routine.
And despite their differences—Zitomer’s undeniably Upper East Side glean, Bigelow’s rustic Greenwich Village vibe—I’m charmed by how many times Ian and Sharon deliver nearly identical sentences about the values they hold dear: they both remark how important it is that their staff answers the phone. No one does that anymore! How they not only treat people’s ailments, but care for their whole person. And most critically: that whether you’re the CEO of an international bank or a tourist from the middle of nowhere, you’ll be treated like family when you walk through their doors.
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