This San Francisco Chronicle article just had to be shared. Thrifty’s was a huge part of my childhood in Southern California. It was a simple drug store like Walgreens or Longs Drugs but they had this little ice cream counter inside. Oh, the twenty-five cent scoops, the cold, sugary smell of the freezer, how it stung your tongue to lick the cold jagged chocolate bits in the mint chip, the cute mini malt balls in the Chocolate Malted Crunch … what a memory. I agree with everything the author of the article says about the whole experience. By the way, I think Thrifty’s is just a West Coast thing, so for anyone who’s not from here, next time you’re around I’ll buy you some. (Thrifty’s no longer exists, but you can find it at some Rite-Aid stores — for local folk, go to the one in Corte Madera’s Town Center).
Subject: Thrifty’s Drug Store06/20/05 at 2:52 amDoes anyone remember these stores? It was a drug store but they sold alot of different items. They also had an ice cream section where you could get a single, double, or triple scoop of ice cream. It was really cheap, but the best ice cream in the world. I usually only went there for the ice cream. The last time I seen a Thrifty’s was in 1991. Does anyone else remember them?
Thrifys ice cream was a part of my childhood growing up in Long Beach California. My Dad would take my brother and me and our friends to the Beach,on the way home we’d always stop at Thrifys.
My Dad would give us each a dime for a single scoop.
I almost always got chocolate chip. Back then it was the mid to late 1970’s a single scoop was 10 cents 15 for a double and 20 for a triple. And you could get an ice cream sandwich for a nickel.
Damn I’m old!