For decades the hum of a soda fountain and the clinking of ice cream scoops filled the air inside Sperry’s Rexall drugstore — a place where locals came for prescriptions, gifts and old-fashioned chocolate malts.
Though the original Rexall has been gone for years, its story isn’t over. Fans of “The Outsiders,” the 1983 film based on S.E. Hinton’s novel, began making the 20-minute pilgrimage from The Outsiders House Museum in Tulsa to Sperry in order to visit what locals fondly called The Old Drugstore, as well as other filming locations like the DX Gas Station.
With help from the nonprofit Upward Sperry, the DX Gas Station was rebuilt and the drugstore reopened in September 2024 to help draw more people to town. Some of the nostalgic charm of The Old Drugstore remains, with vintage photographs and old apothecary bottles reminding visitors of the building’s past…