When Ken and Vernon Hoos opened a drugstore in Evanston in 1930, they offered a robust 25-cent breakfast and boasted a world-class soda fountain.
But the brothers and their sons, Bill and Donald, who took over the drugstore in 1960, always maintained that their “prescription for success” was offering excellent customer service, said Bill’s son, K.C.
The store closed in 1994, but a plaque honoring Hoos’ Drug Store and the family’s commitment to customers was recently placed on the front of the old storefront, which now houses an Einstein Bros. Bagels.
K.C. Hoos, 27, said that unfailing attention to service was essential to the 64-year run at 1745 Sherman Ave.
“It was very customer-oriented, and people knew my dad by name,” Hoos said. “It catered to the North Shore community and was big with Northwestern University students.”