C.O. Bigelow president Ian Ginsberg on unlocking profitable pharmacy retail: 'You have to create a want, not a need’

For New Yorkers, C.O. Bigelow is an institution. 

“There's something about the [Bigelow] apothecary that emotionally appeals to people,” Ian Ginsberg, president, pharmacist and third generation owner of C.O. Bigelow, told Glossy. “Everybody, no matter how young or old you are, has some memory about going to the apothecary and the pharmacist telling you what to do. That's where I started [when I joined the family business four decades ago]. I started focusing on what happens when you walk in the door.”

Opened in 1838, C.O. Bigelow is a mainstay in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City and touted as the city’s oldest apothecary. To wit: The original Kiehl's apothecary opened 14 years later in 1851. 

C.O. Bigelow is known as a go-to for well-heeled New Yorkers, NYU students, tourists and neighborhood locals. Its lore includes customers like Sarah Jessica Parker and the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, who purchased her iconic headbands in the shop, according to C.O. Bigelow. 

“It's not always about what you buy, it's about how you feel when you're there,” said Ginsberg. “I always say we have to be in the want business, not the need business. The minute we're in the need business, we're dead.” 

His family has built more than a pharmacy and retail. The company also has an eponymous beauty brand made in partnership with Bath & Body Works, formerly Limited Brands. The products range from makeup to body care and currently sell in the Greenwich store as well as through Bath & Body Works, Bloomingdale's and Revolve, among other retailers. 

The company also sells its wares direct to consumers. They include the namesake beauty line and the diverse curation found in store. Its stores offers luxury brands like Westman Atelier and Augustinus Bader, prestige offerings from RMS Beauty and Caudalie, and masstige products like Avene and Bioderma. 

“You can't just put stuff on shelves anymore,” Ginsberg said. “Anybody can find unique things and put them on shelves, but it's about making people feel good -- that's more important now than ever before. People talk about experiential retail, but our experimental retail is just person-to-person communication, helping people, explaining things to them and answering questions and showing them how to use things in whatever category it is. That's the secret sauce.”

The company also owns a distribution company called Bigelow Trading that imports and distributes small brands into the U.S., for its own retail and others. Marvis toothpaste is among those brands. In addition, Bigelow Trading has a thriving hotel amenities business that works across hospitality brands like Aman, Nobu Hotel and Soho Grand Hotel, among others. 

But perhaps the most surprising thing about C.O. Bigelow is the role of the pharmacy in the overall business. 

“People sometimes say to me, ‘You have this great beauty business because you have this strong pharmacy business,” Ginsberg said. “But they have it all wrong. [The pharmacy business is supported by the beauty business].” 

As previously reported by Glossy, 2024 was a bad year for American drugstores, and 2025 could end up even worse. Just last year, CVS closed 586 locations, Rite Aid closed 408 stores, and Walgreens closed 259 locations, which has created “drugstore deserts” across the U.S.

As a pharmacist and third-generation pharmacy owner, Ginsberg also shared his perspective on a buzzy topic in the industry: pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between drug companies and consumers. PBMs are currently under investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for alleged pricing abuse, according to reporting by Reuters in January, 

Paired with razor-sharp drug margins, pharmacist staffing shortages and more issues native to pharmacies, the industry is struggling. Ginsberg joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the company’s secret sauce behind its thriving brick-and-mortar business and the role beauty retails plays in it.