Wall Drug

Pulled in around noon of 5/21/2023. There are 3 parking lots (2 of which are Wall Drug lots). The lot directly to the north of Wall Drug is a Wall lot and it has a sign that identifies No RV/Travel Trailer etc. 1 lot directly behind the Sheriff station is city owned and specifically states no overnight or camping allowed. Next to the parking city owned lot is the other Wall Drug parking lot which allows overnight RV parking.

Called to confirm overnight parking allowed after reading review about no camping signs. Employee at Wall Drug states that overnight parking is not allowed in city parking due to city ordinance. The parking lot with designated RV sites is a city parking lot and does have No camping signs. That parking lot also includes Tesla charging stations. The employee said that camping is allowed in the Wall Drug parking lot. She directed us to spend the night in the gravel lot behind the Harley Davidson store and the grey house on the corner. There are two gravel lots located back there. One where they direct semi trucks to park (right next to the rail road tracks) and one across the street behind Harley Davidson that has Wall Drug parking signs. Slept well, did not hear any trains if they went through. Would stay again if passing through. Chose not to go to dispersed camping near Wall as the forecast was calling for rain and it rained during the night. No complaints for a free overnight spot.

There are actually 3 parking lots behind the shopping strip: a dirt gravel lot designated for semi trucks, a regular parking lot with plenty of room to move around, and an RV lot with long parking spaces. What's odd is the RV lot has a bunch of signs saying "no camping". Does that mean no overnights or no extended camping? It's not clear. The regular parking lot had no signs and was more level so I chose to park there. As others have mentioned there is a train that goes right along the parking lot. So yes it's loud. Fortunately for me the only train that went through was around 10pm so it didn't interrupt my sleep. Otherwise the lot was very quiet and well lit. When I awoke the next morning there were a handful of RVs parked in the RV lot. So again, not really sure what the "no camping" signs are supposed to mean.

It looked like rain when we arrived at Wall so we decided to stay in the parking lot rather than the dispersed area for the night. It was a good call. We made a video of our stay while we were there. Find it under the VIDEO tab above.

Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota has a great history. In December, 1931, during the Great Depression, Ted Hustead and his wife Dorothy used a $3000 inheritance from Ted's dad to buy Wall Drug in the small poor town of Wall South Dakota. After several months of struggling, the couple decided to give it five years for business to pick up.

Near the end of the five year period, it was dreadfully hot in Wall. Dorothy had decided to nap while her two little ones were napping. The traffic on Hwy 16A kept her awake. She asked her husband what he thought all those people driving wanted. She finally said they wanted a glass of ice water. (Remember that cars in the 30s had no AC.)

Dorothy talked Ted into posting signs, fashioned after the famous Burma Shave signs, along Hwy 16 A advertising free ice water. As soon as the signs went up, people came to Wall Drug for a refreshing glass of cold water. That began the historic tourist attraction of Wall Drug.

In the video, the Two Tired Teachers show that Wall Drug is still a pharmacy, but today it is much more than that. The video may seem a bit jumpy because in September 2020, the year of Covid 19, South Dakota had no mask orders. We were avoiding people without masks.

We had spent the night in the Wall Drug parking lot. They have two large parking areas for people to use overnight. A third parking area clearly states that by ordinance of the city, there is no overnight parking. About 5 RVs were in the third area when we went to bed. Early the next morning, they were gone. We don't know whether they stayed all night and left early or whether they were told to move.

At around 8 AM we went in Wall Drug. It was not terribly crowded that early, and they do still have five cent coffee. Sharon aptly compared Wall Drug to an indoor strip mall. Many shops are in Wall Drug. Every inch of wall space in the hallways is covered with Wall memorabilia or South Dakota history, particularly of Native American.

Also included in Wall Drug is a cafe. On the afternoon we got into Wall, Sharon went to the cafe to do take out of "buffalo" (actually bison) burgers. In the afternoon the place was very crowded. Social distancing was not an option.

In back of the main building is an annex of sorts. In the courtyard between the main building and the other one are a jackalope and a bucking bronco with stairs on the side so little kids or those who are kids at heart can have photos taken with those. Also out back is what looks to be taxidermized bison.

Finally inside the second building is a T-rex dinosaur that roars at you.