Remember Carl’s Drugs?

Here’s a Carl’s commercial from 1985 — back when it seemed like just about every town around here had either a Carl’s or a Fay’s nearby.

Carl’s was actually a Mohawk Valley company. It was founded in 1939 by Carl A. Panasci and based in Rome, eventually growing to dozens of stores around Upstate New York. There were Carl’s locations in Rome, Utica, Herkimer, Yorkville, Little Falls, Oneida and plenty of other communities.

And here’s something we didn’t know — Carl Panasci was related to the family that started Fay’s Drugs. The two familiar Upstate drugstore names eventually came together when Fay’s bought the 48-store Carl’s chain in 1991.

So by the time this commercial aired in 1985, Carl’s had already been around for more than 45 years. For a lot of people around the Mohawk Valley, it was simply one of those familiar local names that seemed to be everywhere.

Who remembers shopping at Carl’s? And where was your Carl’s Drugs?

---