He worked as the proprietor and pharmacist at the corner store that was named Cypress Center Pharmacy in the early days. His wife, Callie, protested but was soon packing up the family to move to Vero Beach, a place they had never even heard of before. Gryder contacted the Florida Board of Pharmacy and was referred to the newly licensed Corey, who jumped at the chance to move south. Mark Frankenberger, grandson of the original owners, is the operating owner/pharmacist of Corey’s. After a brief stint in the Navy during World War II, he heard that Florida was actively recruiting pharmacists to move there as it developed, so he went to pharmaceutical school and got licensed in Florida.Īs fate would have it, David Gryder, a retired businessman in Vero Beach, had just built a building between Easter Lily Lane and Flamevine Lane and since Orchid Island didn’t have a beachside pharmacy to serve the island residents, he thought a drugstore would be a good fit.ĭr. Born in Harlan, Kentucky, he always dreamed of moving to Florida, which he viewed as the new frontier. Luke Corey opened the iconic drug store in 1956. Cartoonist Fontaine Fox whose comic strip, Toonerville Fox, ran in hundreds of newspapers nationwide, often sketched on a napkin while enjoying a cup of coffee and a pastry.Įven the seven original astronauts would occasionally stop in when they were staying in Vero Beach during their training at NASA. Vero’s elite from John’s Island sat on stools next to barefoot kids stopping in for a soda after a day on the beach. Some came for the fresh sandwiches, but others were there to catch the eye of the beautiful young waitress by the name of Vangie Smith. And they’d tell of all the secrets that unfolded at the soda fountain when area businessmen met for lunch. They’d tell of days of old when the quintessential corner drug store was the hub for island visitors and residents. If the walls of Corey’s Pharmacy could talk, oh, the stories they would tell. Longtime pharmacy tends to generations of Vero Beach residents and visitors BY KERRY FIRTH A special feature at the beachside pharmacy is the contemporary collection of unique greeting cards, no matter what year it is.

Corey’s Pharmacy, the island’s first drugstore, opened on Ocean Drive across from Humiston Park in 1956.

Greeting card shop vero beach