Fairley’s Pharmacy

Great old fashioned soda counter. Had a delicious espresso shake, but also could get a lime rickey or a phosphate. Very friendly folks!
Good place to take a 50 something kid, who needs a taste of his/​her childhood!

Very friendly and inexpensive. They even had the prescription for our pet. Other places quoted us $ 140+ and would have to order it, Fairley’s price was $ 30 and they had it in stock. AMAZING!

Very personal service and they know me by face and name.

Always helpful and always have what I need, I love the special attention. Support the local guys.

They are super helpful! I went in yesterday, trying to find a specific med brand that I needed. No one else in town had it, but they were able to order it for me and get it in next day no problem. So helpful!
Special shout out to Tracey for taking the time to answer all my questions. I will go back every month from now on!

Fairley’s is a timeless pharmacy. It even has an area where they keep old pharmaceuticals like placebo pills or white polar bark, which the herbalist in me sort of geeks out on! I used to pick up my scripts (with insurance) at Walgreens thinking they would be cheaper but found Fairley’s even cheaper to fill! I would much rather support these guys than a big chain! Plus they’re nice people will that whole neighborhood friendly vibe!

They are the best pharmacy in portland. If they cannot get the medication, they often can make it. Used them dozens of times, never disappointed

been wanting to come here for decades, and finally did… we each had the old fashioned chocolate milkshake, made with vannila ice cream/​choc syrup/​whole milk/​whipped cream… excellent and transported back to the ’50’s…the ambiance is great with the soda fountain and built-​in cabinetry… the hamilton beach and photos from so long ago, plus old pharmacy scripts detail the time periods… the server/​pharm clerk was very friendly and made the best milkshakes… plus sundries, books, and pharmacy… we’ll be back… additionally they give you the metal cup with the extra milkshake!

This place is a time machine back to the 1950’s. Not the commercialized retro grill kind of place… But a soda fountain frozen in time. They still had their 1950’s pastel green Hamilton Beach mixers humming away. A big Steel can of straws, Rasberry Phosphate anyone?
Anyhow service was from a really friendly local high school kid. Fast and Friendly. We sat at the soda fountain bar and ordered a Vanilla Shake to share.
It was homemade ice cream and it was the best. The shakes were made smooth and very thick. And Very tasty.
While drinking our shake we saw him make several cones too. Packs them really tight with ice cream and then a big scoop on top.
72^nd and Sandy is a bit our of our way… But it was a treat… and we will be back.

Ron Howard has always confused me. He was all black & white in Mayberry, right? And then when I watched Happy Days & American Graffiti, I guess I must’ve thought they were actually filmed in the 1950s, because when I saw him in, say, 2001, talking about a movie he’d directed, I thought: sure, he’s no fresh-​faced Richie and certainly grown up from Opie, but apart from the hair loss: WOW, he’s really held up! Just how old IS he?!
By the time he was the disembodied voice of Arrested Development, I’d given up trying to figure it out and was dreaming that Ron & I were madly in love. Well, one dream, anyway.
Um, so what were we talking about? Ah, Fairley’s. Yes.
When we walked into this corner pharmacy & soda shoppe, we checked out the menu and asked about the egg cream: what is it? The girl behind the pharmacy counter called down some stairs to someone named Cuddy? Cubby? Fairley? and a voice came up: soda water, cream & chocolate syrup. And egg.
She smiled and nodded as she relayed to us that Ducky (I’m just gonna go with that) was the resident expert on all things soda-​shopped. She said he’d be right with us. Excellent.
We settled into our seats at the original fountain counter and gawked and waited.
It’s old, folks. Not the new made to look old that’s all the rage. It’s well-​preserved but also wooden and well-​loved and a little dusty in the corners. It has been there since the place was built. And people still get their drugs at the pharmacy. As well as romance novels and greeting cards. So it’s got a little Walgreens feeling mixed in.
The fountain selections are generally simple. The ice creams are from Umpqua or Tillamook, one of the standards, and served as milkshakes or scooped into Corelle bowls, just like at grandma’s house. And there’s a short list of old-​timey specials, such as the Yoohoo-​esque egg cream and the acidic Green River phosphate. The ones Ducky knows all about.
My expectations of Ducky were set. I was ready for the grandfatherly antique-​store expert to school us on how pharmacies worked in the olden days, and how soda fountains used to exist so the medicine could get mixed in to something more palatable, a la Mary Poppins. I expected him to pop his gnarled knuckles and wiggle his white mustache while his eyes crinkled behind smudged glasses.
Instead, up from the basement pops a fresh and friendly face, with all the swagger, enthusiasm and endearing awkwardness of every high-​school student. We had ourselves a real live soda jerk! I got all kindsa lost in time. How old are you? How old am I? Where is this place in time? I still don’t know for sure, but I think Ron might like it. I’ll take him there in my next dream.

The only reason I can’t give this place five stars is because I only had an iced coffee, so I don’t feel I can validly judge the quality of the drinks! That said, my experience was MOST lovely. The service was excellent. The atmosphere was delightful. I felt like I was truly in an American pharmacy in the 1940s! AND I learned this year marks their 100^th anniversary. What a treat. Definitely stop by. :) It’s cheap too!

It’s how pharmacies used to be. Personalized service and helpful advice. The soda fountain could be a movie set all by itself!

Milk Shakes and old fashioned soda fountain. That’s all you need to know.
BUT if you actually need a prescription it’s a good place to go, too. The prices are competitive and it’s a locally owned and run business that’s a tradition and has some hard to find pharmacy items. I found Coke Syrup here. Not THAT kind of coke. The kind they used to use in the old days for nausea and was basically the syrup used to make Coca-​Cola. It may be placebo effect but it’s the only thing that works when I have nausea and a migraine. Anyway.
I love this place. Parking is interesting and being on Sandy is kind of full of suck, but totally worth going. Please support this local old business!

The hubby and I were looking for some milkshakes nearby and we found this place on Unilocal under «milkshakes». Mmm-​mmm-​mmm! Thank you, Unilocal!
I got the Oreo shake with chocolate ice cream (what can I say, I LOVE chocolate.) and the hubby got all crazy and ordered the regular Peanut Butter/​Chocolate shake and ADDED Oreos to it! The gal at the counter didn’t even flinch at his off the menu order, and whipped our treats up with a smile.
The milkshakes were delicious and the price was pretty sweet, too.
Now that my eyes have been opened to the sweet chocolately delights at Fairley’s, they will definitely be seeing a LOT more of me. I might even try one of their flavors that DOESN’T have chocolate, someday… Maybe… Nope.

I went here when they were almost closed only to find out my doctor called in my Rx to the wrong pharmacy down the street. They were very gracious about this and had it transferred over after quite a search for it being missing in the first place. I thought this was very kind considering they were closed at this point, as well as did a lot of work to get it filled for me. Everyone I encountered was very helpful here. There’s not a lot to it – a pharmacy, some stuff to buy your typical pharmacy might have about 75 years ago, and then a soda fountain which was closed when I got there. I felt like I was in a different era, in a good way, because that came with personalized service and a less rushed attitude. I will go back. Prices are good and selection… well, it didn’t look bad but it certainly isn’t expansive. Location is at Sandy and 72^nd and Fremont where they all collide and parking seems rather easy if you can navigate the intersection.

True to many of the reviews before me, this is a flash to the past. Set on a triangular corner the layout of the pharmacy is strangely unique with three entrances and the pharmacy counter along the base of the triangle. Prices are absolutely incredible for today’s day and age.
Although many patronize the pharmacy I visited simply for the ice cream. Much to my surprise while thumbing through the reviews I was intrigued by the «Phosphates»! When I think I Phosphate Soda I am drawn to days of sitting at the counter of my mother’s favorite 5 and Dime scarfing down roast beef sandwiches on her lunch break on days I didn’t have school. Please don’t misconstrue what I just typed; those meals were reward for a day’s worth of hard labor! She brought me to her job to work. I often kid with her the fact I learned how to file before I learned my ABCs. Sarsaparilla was my drink of choice and I loved it! But alas the Phosphate Soda just didn’t do it for me. The seltzer or club soda came from the Coca-​Cola fountain on the counter to the left of the classic classic soda fountain all the reviewers rave about. Yes, I agree. Its really cool to see but I would have loved to have seen it used as opposed to the modern classic I became familiar with growing up as Gen-​X McDonald’s kid! and a little more syrup wouldn’t have hurt either.
But the purpose of my visit was the ice cream and I was determined to have at it! I ordered a two scoop sundae with caramel and nuts with a cherry on top. My ice creams of choice was classic vanilla because every handmade ice cream should be judged by that which is the most common and well… basic! The second flavor I chose was so underwhelming I honestly do not remember what it was. The nuts added as the topping were, literally, salted peanut halves that tasted straight from the can. What happened to crushing the peanuts? The caramel was thought to be nonexistent until I got to the bottom of the cup. It was there I noticed the pool of caramel that laid under the melted ice cream as if it were the first thing added. As if those weren’t disappointing enough the ice cream tasted two degrees away from being freezer burnt. The milk consistency was not there and the sugar content was fit for a diabetic. I took my first spoonful and thought, «Snoopy Snow Cone Maker»! With the many scoop shops around town it is fairly safe to say I will not visit Fairley’s again.

A great place to spend an hour with a milk shake and a newspaper. Nice to see a super modern pharmacy in back, and an old-​timey soda fountain up in front, where for $ 2.50 you can get the weeks special shake.

Fairley’s has all the prescriptions and drugstore items you expect, but that’s not the main reason I’d want to go there. I like the obscenely large milkshakes. They are delicious — made with real ice cream at the soda fountain behind the counter. It was so large, I should have split it with my dad. But, he wanted his own.
As a kid in the 40s/​50s, my grandfather took my dad and uncle there while he talked to the pharmacist and did whatever a physician would have done at a pharmacy in that era. When my dad heard they still had the soda fountain, he had to go (after buying a few Annie’s doughnuts to stave off disappointment if it didn’t exist). I guess he wanted to make up for all those shakes he split with his brother years ago.
Great soda fountain — something from another era, but not in the fake, retro way. I’d recommend splitting a milkshake — unless you can drink that much cream and sugar without writhing on the ground with a stomachache.

Alright, here goes my second 5* review for a PDX business. Fairley’s earns my love and loyalty because it offers more than just nostalgia… though that alone might get it 4*s from me!
I like to patronize locally owned businesses, but I am a BIG supporter of neighborhood pharmacies. I don’t really have any regular drug prescriptions, but the next time I need to fill a ‘scrip this will be my spot. Of course they sell all the usual independent drug store items (over-​the-​counter meds, band-​aids, etc), and yes these things are a little pricier than say, a Target or Freddies. But it still feels good to provide business to a place that actually HAS to care about it’s customers and provide that little something extra called service!
But what brought us into Fairley’s this past weekend was the old time soda fountain; a real, honest-​to-​goodness hand pulled, homemade soda fountain, not to be mistaken with one of those self-​serve soda machines you’d find at every Plain Pantry.
We had just gotten some doughnuts at Annie’s (
) about a half-​block away, and My Lady was looking for an iced coffee so we strolled on up to Fairley’s.
Near the back of their small shop, just off to the side of the pharmacy counter, is a sight that could make you believe the front door to Fairley’s is actually a portal through time taking you back 50, 60, 80 years into any small town Chemist in middle America. There sits polished wood bar, with fixed, spinning bar stools, and a menu board proudly announcing, amongst other things, handmade PHOSPHATE SODAS!
Wow, I’ll bet you could poll 100 Portlanders at random and not find 10 who have even heard of a grape, or lime, or vanilla phosphate. They have ridiculously cheap daily specials (my 16 oz blackberry soda was only $ 1), but their regular prices look shockingly close to what they must have been like half a century ago. Including my soda, 2 bucks and 2 quarters also got My Lady the iced coffee she’d been jonesing for, and they even let her pour it herself to ensure she got exactly the right coffee-​to-​cream balance. They also have espresso drinks, if you need more kick.
They even had a friendly, chipper young teenager working the fountain (I won’t call her a soda jerk, lest people think I’m lobbing an insult), who happily cleared up the little mess we made on the counter. I wonder if she or her friends realize that by working at Fairley’s she’s continuing a tradition and link to the past that no $tarbucks or Cold$tones could ever hope to duplicate?
They have handmade ice cream, with rotating seasonal flavors, and they’re happy to serve it on a cone, or as a milkshake or malt. This is really the type of place that’s almost impossible to find anywhere in America these days, yet there it is right in the heart of the Roseway neighborhood here in our fair city of Portland.
Stopping by Fairley’s for a soda or a malt is a real treat that I highly recommend you indulge in early and often… even if it’s out of your way! You won’t be disappointed, and after enjoying a soda flavored the way you like it, you’ll wonder why we’re all willing to settle for just a mass produced coke or pepsi.

Sure, it’s a pharmacy, and a good place to pick up a prescription or a Hallmark greeting card, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, Fairley’s pharmacy is home to one of the few surviving soda fountains in this city, complete with dark-​stained wood counter and stools.
Since 1920, Fairley’s has been a great place for getting shakes, ice cream, egg creams, malts, phosphates (what the heck?!).
Also, according to the historical information available on the counter, «There used to be a trap door in the back of the pharmacy. Only two people fell through. They were both red-​headed drug salsemen.»