Owl Drug Co. Ltd. (also known as The Owl Drug Company and Owl Drugs) is a Vancouver, British Columbia pharmacy that has operated continuously since at least 1910, making it one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the city. Today a single store operates at 199 East Hastings Street, at the northwest corner of Main and Hastings, the same intersection the company has occupied since the early twentieth century. The company is remembered for its long commercial history, its distinctive owl mascot, and its role in Vancouver's neon-sign culture of the mid-twentieth century.
Origins and founding J. F. Jaeck was a drugist who established the original "Owl Drug" store at 76 Cordova Street, Vancouver, in the early 1890s. Jaeck is listed in the 1896 Vancouver City Directory as a "chemist and druggist" at that address, and appears in Henderson's British Columbia Gazetteer and Directory for 1889 alongside other early Vancouver pharmacists. He was also among the pharmacists registered as licentiates of pharmacy by the Pharmaceutical Association of British Columbia at its 1891 council meeting. By June 1898 Jaeck became unwell and wished to travel to California. A brief item in The Province reported that McDowell, Atkins, Watson Company had purchased Jaeck's Owl Drug store, with J. M. Atkins taking charge.
McDowell, Atkins, Watson Co. Ltd. (1895-1910) The firm of McDowell, Atkins, Watson Co., Ltd. incorporated on 1 June 1895, amalgamating the businesses of two of Vancouver's oldest drug houses: H. McDowell & Co. and Atkins & Atkins. The amalgamation brought under one management two stores on Cordova and Granville streets owned by H. McDowell & Co., together with the Hastings Street store and the Nanaimo business of Atkins & Atkins. A profile headlined "A Unique Business" in The Province (29 July 1899) described the resulting company as unique in its formation, being not only the largest retail drug house in the Dominion but the only one which owned and operated so many stores in a single city. The Nanaimo branch was subsequently sold, and around 1896 the firm purchased the Mount Pleasant branch from J. E. Morrow. Following the acquisition of Jaeck's store in the summer of 1898, the company operated five locations, described at the time as the largest aggregation of drug stores owned by one firm in Canada. Senior partner H. McDowell had first opened his shop in Vancouver just after the Great Fire of 1886, making him for a time the only druggist in the city. He initially occupied premises on the opposite side of Cordova Street before moving to the Dunn-Miller Block when it was built in 1889. In 1889 H. H. Watson came to Vancouver and later joined McDowell as a partner; that same year Atkins & Atkins commenced business on Hastings Street. In 1889 H. McDowell & Co. also purchased the drug stock of Clarke & Robinson, and in 1891 bought the business of A. W. Draper on Granville Street. By 1906 the company was advertising under the Owl Drug name as a special agent for Newbro's Herpicide, with three stores. A 1910 advertisement listed "Owl Drug Co., Ltd., three stores" as successors to McDowell, Atkins, Watson Co.
Incorporation of Owl Drug Co. Ltd. (1910) The Owl Drug Company Limited was incorporated on 13 October 1910, with incorporation number BC0000097. A Vancouver Daily Province article dated 16 December 1910 announced the transition under the headline "OWL DRUG COMPANY — Faithful Employees Take Over Business of Long-Established Company," reporting that the founding partners H. H. Watson, M.L.A. and J. M. Atkins had retired from active business to devote their attention to extensive realty holdings, selling out to long-serving employees, several of whom had been with the firm for ten to sixteen years. The officers of the new corporation were President J. M. Watson, Vice-President A. E. Black, Secretary J. C. McLeod, and Treasurer R. A. Sheppard. J. M. Watson continued in charge at the Granville Street store.
Growth under the Owl Drug name (1910s-1920s) By April 1912 the company had grown to four locations. An April 1912 article in The Province described the new store at the corner of Main and Hastings streets, in the Dawson Building, as having elaborate interior fittings and a large soda fountain. A further branch on Powell Street was also opened around the same time. By 1913 the company was advertising four locations: corner of Granville and Dunsmuir streets; corner of Main and Hastings East; corner of Cordova and Abbott streets; and corner of Powell and Dunlevy Avenue, under the slogan "THE MOST OF THE BEST FOR THE LEAST." Advertisements emphasized a double-check prescription system, exclusively qualified druggists, and free delivery to all parts of the city. Owl Drug stores served community functions beyond dispensing: excursion tickets for Canadian Pacific Railway sailings to Nanaimo were sold at the Main and Hastings store in 1912, the company sponsored a trophy at the 1912 Vancouver dog show for best English setter of opposite sex, and J. M. Watson served as an associate judge at the 1914 Vancouver automobile races at Minoru Park. In 1921 the company extended its operations to Victoria, purchasing the business of Duncan Campbell, described in company advertising as one of the oldest and best-equipped drug businesses in British Columbia. By around 1930, according to Wrigley's British Columbia Directory, the company operated six Vancouver locations plus a Victoria store at Fort and Douglas Streets, under president John M. Watson, vice-president A. E. Black, and secretary-treasurer D. C. Dawson.
The Ford Building, East Hastings The company's East End flagship store at Main and Hastings occupied the Ford Building on East Hastings Street between Main Street and Columbia Street. The 1965 Greater Vancouver Criss Cross Street and Avenue Directory records Owl Drug Co. Ltd. at both 185 East Hastings and 193 East Hastings simultaneously. a double-fronted premises within the Ford Building. with the Toronto-Dominion Bank occupying the corner unit at 199 East Hastings. By the 1960s the company was operating under the name Owl Rexall Drugs, reflecting an affiliation with the Rexall drug cooperative. City of Vancouver Archives photographs from September 1968 show "Owl Rexall Drugs in the Ford Building" at 185 East Hastings Street, and a further photograph from 1968-69 shows an Owl Rexall Drugs location at 501 Granville Street.
Selected locations
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