Founded as an apothecary in 1838, C. O. Bigelow Chemists has thrived into the twenty-first century as an unlikely, but very popular, combination of neighborhood drugstore and high-end beauty emporium. Its aisles are crowded with long-time local customers waiting for their prescriptions to be filled at the pharmacy, as well as visiting aficionados of luxury toiletries, hard-to-find home fragrance lines, and unusual perfumes.
Through an agreement with Limited Brands, the Bigelow brand name is used on newly developed products sold at Limited Brands’ various stores (Henri Bendel, Bath & Body Works), and Limited Brands has opened several shops under the C.O. Bigelow name in other cities. This original location, however, is still independently owned by the same family that bought the company in 1939…
