When Sir Paul McCartney walked into Zitomer one day a few years ago, his jaw dropped. Sharon Sternheim, the longtime owner of the upscale drug store on the Upper East Side, remembers him saying, “Please don’t tell me you’re going out of business.”
At the time, the store was under construction—its first renovation in almost 40 years—and everything was moved from the first floor up to the second. “To him and most of the neighborhood, it really is a staple,” Sternheim explains. Many of the salespeople have worked there for decades and greet regulars, some of whom have house accounts, by name. But everyone knows Sir Paul.
Founded in 1950, Zitomer is indeed one of a kind. Yes, there is a drug counter where you can pick up your prescriptions. You can also rely on it for Band-Aids, candy, toothpaste, and other items typical of any pharmacy. But the three-story space on Madison Avenue that it’s occupied since 1986 is teeming with odds and ends that are hard or impossible to find anywhere else, from German foot soaks to handmade silk headbands made by a mysterious woman named “Anna” from New Jersey, to a dog’s chew toy that looks like a Louis Vuitton bag.
For generations, New Yorkers have delighted in its selection, making it an “if you know, you know” type of place. “They have a unique variety of whimsy, with products like toothpicks disguised as lipsticks or Jean Naté bath oil, which I had no idea was even made anymore,” says writer Marisa Meltzer, referencing a fragrant bath oil launched by Charles of the Ritz in 1935. “There’s a comfort in that time-traveler quality. We live in a world where drugstore chains and beauty chains dominate, so there’s just not that much space for discovery.” Meltzer, who writes a beauty newsletter called Soft Power, recently moved uptown from the Lower East Side and now considers Zitomer a “utility.”
Shortly before the pandemic, in an attempt to keep up with the times and attract new clientele, Sternheim decided to give the pharmacy a makeover. She compares the decision to getting a facelift: “I was about to go into my 70s, and I said, I’m either going to retire and sell the store, or I’m going to re-do it and, I hate to say it, die behind the counter looking beautiful. And that’s when we decided to do it.”
Sterheim and her son, Robert, gave the go-ahead to Bruce Teitelbaum, a longtime Zitomer customer, and C.E.O. and founder of RPG, an award-winning design-and-architecture firm. “We wanted to have a modern environment that was steeped in classical apothecary and a department-store design,” he says of the plans he developed with the Sternheims. “We worked very, very hard to not alienate any generations, like their older customers, their existing customers, or new customers that they would attract. So you walk in, and there’s a glamorous old-world feeling, but it’s also approachable. The shelves are open, it’s engaging, and it’s very easy to discover new brands and new products that you love.”
The renovation was completed in 2021, and the before-and-after photos will make you want to get a facelift yourself. “Before, everything was crammed in there,” says Teitelbaum. “The whole philosophy was: stack it high and let them fly.” The store also didn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act’s guidelines. Now, instead of neon-tube lighting and Formica countertops, the ground floor is shiny and gold, with marble surfaces. “It’s magnificent,” says Sternheim. “A jewel.”
Since the pandemic and the renovation, the business has not only rebounded but also grown, helping Zitomer bring in higher-end brands and the next generation of regulars, or “younger, hipper, cooler clientele,” according to Sternheim. A quick scroll through the pharmacy’s tagged photos on Instagram reveals women posing in front of displays and the gilded entrance. They’re coming for the TikTok-trendy brands that Zitomer now carries, but they’re also coming for staples like the $35 tortoiseshell made-in-France headbands that Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy reportedly wore, which Zitomer has carried since 1976.
Having grown up downtown, I visited the pharmacy for the first time myself last month when Meltzer invited me for a spin. The experience convinced me to walk out with an empty $110 Zitomer pillbox wrapped in a “real” leather Gucci monogram, which I was absolutely positive I couldn’t find anywhere else. A woman working behind the counter, who took down orders with a pen, told me they were made from re-purposed designer materials by the artist Sarah Coleman. “We can’t keep them in stock,” said Sternheim. “During the holidays, people were buying up to 10 per person. It was crazy. But, like, what do you give as a gift to someone who has everything?”
I may not be an uptown girl, but I sure felt like one when I put my meds in my designer-logo pill case when I got home.
Emilia Petrarca is a New York–based writer who covers fashion, beauty, culture, travel, and design. Her work has appeared in New York magazine, The New York Times, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and more
