I can remember coming in here when I couldn’t even see over the lunch counter. Of course, the Long’s story doesn’t begin with me.

In the early 1950s, a young pharmacist named Clarence Long was working at Knoxville’s Ellis & Ernest Drug Store on the Cumberland Avenue strip. He was approached by Dwight McDonald and others from the White Stores Grocery with a new idea: to open a drug store in what would be Knoxville’s very first shopping center.

In March 1956, he did just that. The first two pharmacists on staff were himself and Dr. John Benson. In February 1959, my father, Jim Peck, became the third.

Many folks in the West Knoxville community grew up at this gathering place, just like me. Generations of families and friends have enjoyed after-school burgers and fries, comic books, weekly lunch dates, and many a Big Orange game day here. For decades, folks have trusted the pharmacists at Long’s Drug Store with their health, their parents’ health, and the health of their children.

After his passing in the mid-1960s, Dr. Long’s wife sold the drug store to my father, Jim, and his brother, Ed. Over the past 60 years, not much has changed inside these walls. In here, time slows down. In here, you’re family.

Much of my time with patients is spent discussing their health concerns, their grandchildren, or this year’s tomato plants – sometimes over a hot cup of coffee or a milkshake from the soda fountain. My father, my uncle, my sisters, my wife, my children – we’ve all enjoyed working here over the years.

But this place – it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to the community. It belongs to you.

Thank you for these 60+ years. Here’s to many more.

Hank Peck
Owner/Head Pharmacist