Michael Ronco, RPh first opened his pharmacy in June of 1956. The original pharmacy was located at the corner of Dwight Street and Cleveland Avenue in West Lawn. In 1967, the pharmacy moved to 3311 Penn Avenue in West Lawn, where it remained for nearly half a century.
Michael retired from his pharmacy business in 2014, and passed away in 2015. Ronco’s closed its doors around that same time, being one of the last locally owned pharmacies that remained opened in the area.
Ronco’s expanded at some point to include an “East” location pictured above in 1975. Does anyone remember where this was?
I believe Ronco’s had a store at the Berkshire Mall ( West ) along side of the Pa. Wine & Spirits store.
I believe you are thinking of Kurtz’s pharmacy.
I worked at the original Ronco’s location as a prescription delivery boy in 1965. I learned how to drive a manual transmission car in their little Fiat delivery vehicle.
My mom picked-up her Sunday New York Times (which included the crossword puzzle) at Ronco’s every week for decades. They also filled every prescription she needed during that same stretch. I have fond memories of walking down to Ronco’s to pick-up her scripts and other necessaries. Micheal Ronco looked out for his clients and knew them by name; try getting that same level of concern and attention at your local CVS.
My family often got prescriptions at Ronco’s and I recall going to the Dwight St. location as a kid. There used to be a little Isetta car out front. The ‘new’ Ronco’s replaced a farm house that sat on that site. Mario Hipp was a key employee. These ad photos were from the Spring Township history in 1975 that I was key in writing. Another long time local pharmacy was John R. Kurtz’s pharmacy in Sinking Spring that first was on the southeast corner of Penn and Woodrow Avenues and opened in the late 1920’s. They had a soda fountain counter as many of the old time pharmacies maintained. Kurtz died in 1970 and his son Robert built a new pharmacy in the next block at 4118 Penn Avenue, Sinking Spring (now the tuxedo store).
I remember Ronco’s very well as I grew up in West Wyo. The Dwight Steet location was just across the street and a bit over from the Behms who owned a small West Lawn bakery and also sold goods from their house. Another old local pharmacy which preceded Ronco was Krick’s Drug Store on the Penn Ave. intersection of W. Wyo Blvd. and Woodside Ave. Krick’s also had an old fashioned soda fountain. Not certain, but I thought a person named Koppenhaver took over the spot and then moved – might be a connection between Koppenhave & Kurtz – perhaps someone can nail that down.