An Amazing Business Success Story: The Story of Wall Drug, South Dakota

Roy and I drove to Yellowstone National Park and the Badlands about 20 years ago. As we neared the town of Wall, South Dakota, more precisely, as we were about 100 miles away, we began to see signs. 99 miles to Wall Drug. Free Iced water, and 5 cent coffee. And so on, probably 200 signs, every half mile. Of course, we stopped. We sipped, we bought. We marvelled at the Drugstore as big as a town, that employs a third of the town.

The Drugstore was founded during the Depression, when no one stopped in because no one had money to spend. The Husteads had run the store for the 5 years they had given themselves to make money–unsuccessfully.

One day, as they came closer to giving up, Mrs Hustead noticed the continuous stream of cars which drove by–without stopping.

It was hot, she thought, they might be thirsty. So she put up signs offering them free iced water. Free. No strings attached.

The store began to fill almost as soon as she put out the signs. Some bought icecream. Or sodas.

The business took off. It sprawled across the town. It never looked back.

A simple business lesson: Give people something they need, that blesses them, at a reasonable price, even free.

It is in blessing that we are blessed!

The founder sums it up:

Free Ice Water. It brought us Husteads a long way and it taught me my greatest lesson, and that’s that there’s absolutely no place on God’s earth that’s Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need!

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