‘Fancy Pharmacy’ is Moving from Essex Street After Decades on the Block

A Lower East Side retail anchor is unmoored from its longtime location at the northwest corner of Essex and Rivington Streets.

Fancy Pharmacy (and its unique store signage) is not long for this spot. A sandwich board outside the store indicates that the drugstore is relocating, though not too far away. Its new location is a couple blocks away at 132 Allen Street, the previous home of 10Below ice cream.

Thus caps some thirty-five years here.

Word on the street is that the building – 131 Essex Street – is about to be sold. As of today, however, public records show no sign of a transaction. (The property has been owned by Frank Arnold since 1986.)

Date of the move is not mentioned.

In the 1960s, Photo: Economy Candy

This corner spot was most famously the first location of Economy Candy starting in 1937. Its original function was a discount shoe shop, yet the candy stand was the biggest draw. Fashion purchases weren’t number one for those hit hardest by the economic downturn. So, founder Morris “Moishe” Cohen, who passed away five years ago at age 92, pivoted the business into a sweets shop. The shop eventually moved to its current location at 108 Rivington in 1985 after Saperstein’s appetizing closed.

The pharmacy followed.