WTF is Wall Drug?

I had no idea. We kept seeing the billboards on the side of the highway as we made our way through South Dakota and all I could think of was someone dragging a wall through the mud.

But it turns out that Wall Drug is a pretty awesome little spot out in the middle of nowhere with an even awesome-er backstory.

To put it briefly, Wall Drug started out as a small struggling drug store in the city of Wall, SD. It was purchased in 1931 by a husband and wife with an unquenchable thirst for entrepreneurship. Using just $3000 left to them by the husbands late father, they struggled for 5 years to keep the business from failing. Just as they were going to close shop, the wife was hit with unusual idea on a hot summer day.

They began to offer “Free Ice Water” to passing travelers and put up signs all along the highway with catchy phrases letting everyone know. The first day they could barely handle the rush of visitors. The next summer they’d hired 8 additional employees to keep up. They now bring in up to 20k people a day.

It was WALL I hoped it would be…

Offering “Free Ice Water” in some little broke town, out in the middle of nowhere, made that couple millions. Just another example of how much opportunity is out here in this world. Go get it y’all.

No ifs, ands or buttes about it 😎

Oh. And the number of times I yelled “WALL…” in Jimmy Fallon’s Trump voice before we left the city? In-calc-luc-able…