At one time, drugstores had soda fountains and lunch counters.

Those have mostly disappeared, but Clay Johnson and his videographer, Eric Olson, take us off the beaten path to a drugstore in Forest City where you can still buy a cheeseburger and a milkshake.

[upbeat music] - [Reporter] It's another busy lunch hour at Smith's Drugs in downtown Forest City.

- We have a large customer base that come here daily or weekly to eat either breakfast or lunch, and sometimes both.

We have customers that have been eating here for many years, 30, 40 years.

I talk to people all the time and they say, "Yeah, I came in here when I was five years old and I'm still coming here."

- [Reporter] A man named JM Smith opened Smith Drugs in 1939.

It was one of 12 stores he opened in Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina.

- We're one of probably two that still are around from those dozen Smith's Drugs that were opened that long ago.

- [Reporter] Over the years, it expanded into some adjacent storefronts to add medical equipment and home healthcare supplies, but it remains a full-service pharmacy that also sells over-the-counter medications and has a gift shop just as it did when it opened in 1939.

- A lot of things have changed, but a few things are still the same since then.

What we aim to do here is to provide good customer service to all of our customers and all of our patients.

That's the same as it was 80 years ago.

- [Reporter] The soda fountain and lunch counter are pretty much the same too.

What are you famous for?

- Pimento cheese, we sell a lot of pimento cheese.

We sell a lot of burgers, and of course, the tenders and the wings are a big hit now.

- [Reporter] Wyatt added the tenders and wings trying to modernize the menu a bit, but she says the old timers still like the traditional soda fountain fare.

- They love BLT, we sell so many.

Every day they'll come and eat a BLT or they'll get pimento cheese, and we wanna keep them, but we also wanna bring in newer people too.

- [Reporter] And of course, there are milkshakes and hand-dipped ice cream.

- Kids love the ice cream [laughs].

I strive for my servers to be super friendly and we try to be fast, and we want you in and out, but we want you to really enjoy your time.

- [Reporter] Weekends bring more out-of-towners.

- Saturdays it's a lot of different people from everywhere.

- [Reporter] Weekdays are mostly locals like Michael and Lori Benfield, who come here to fill their prescriptions and their bellies.

Michael moved here from Hickory in 1985 and has been coming to Smith's Drugs ever since.

- The menu is just a total variety, whether it's breakfast or all the way through lunch and stuff.

And then they've got wonderful desserts.

I just tried one of the pound cakes that they had, it's just awesome.

- [Reporter] Lori is a Forest City native who's been coming here her entire life.

- I especially like the gift shop.

Most everybody I have brought here has really enjoyed it.

They enjoy the food and the shopping.

- That's right, I understand.

There's familiar faces always behind the counter.

If you get to know your customers, we know people by name, and we greet them when they come in.

I want them to feel like that they're coming to a place where they're taken care of, where they're family, that people know them and greet them and care about them when they're here.

- [Reporter] And along with the soda fountain and lunch counter, Higgins says that's what separates Smith's Drugs from the big chain drugstore we all know.

[upbeat music] - Grab a stool at Smith's Drugs of Forest City at 139 East Main Street.

Fountain hours are Monday through Saturday from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM and you can find out more by visiting their website at smithsdrugsfc.com.