A real interaction between a pharmacy cashier and a customer that I overheard with my very own ears in Crooksville, OH, last week.
Granted, I didn't have high expectations for the combination pharmacy-hardware store, but WOW.
What shocking covid-related things have you encountered lately?
There's allegory about America in there somewhere but I just can't find it.
The store likely grew out of a general store/trading post, eventually specializing in whatever they sold the most of as grocery, department, and convenience stores became more widespread. Actually not that uncommon in the US since a lot of medications don't require any special kind of storage and can just sit on a shelf.
Maybe they are regional things? I've lived in the US and I don't recall seeing any drug & hardware stores even though I might have seen some. Google was pretty bad and after I carefully spoonfed it - combination drugstore/hardware stores - my results were only for Alaska and the Northwest.
edit: you sure the map didn't just freak out on you? I'm seeing google giving results for Texas and Ohio.
One of google's many problems is google insists on "helping" by giving everybody customized results. As far as I know - it's impossible to share generalized results. I don't live in the Northwest or Alaska and my VPN locates me in Denver. Why google didn't talk about Ohio and Texas is a mystery.
Rant: Fucking google.
Ninja edit: Bing is even worse than google!
in wisconsin and south dakota I've seen tons of combination hardware store liquor stores. pharmacy/hardware store is a bit oddball, but I wouldn't think twice if I saw one either