Circa 1920. Brooklyn, NY. An immigrant comes to America with dreams of making a better looking life for his family. After putting himself through pharmacy college he opens his fi rst business, Saltzman Pharmacy. This was my great-grandfather, Peter Saltzman. Later his son Ralph (my grandfather) enters the pharmacy business and takes over Saltzman Pharmacy, until my own father would become a pharmacist. My father would run Saltzman pharmacy and later open two Manhattan pharmacies. But where this story takes a turn is my involvement. Born with the mind of an entrepreneur and having less then stellar grades in college, following in the footsteps of these men before me just wasn’t in the cards…..However, I wanted to keep the pharmacy spirit alive in some respect and pay homage to these great men. My name is Scott Saltzman and this is my story.
Growing up at Saltzman pharmacy I learned many life lessons. I learned how to work the cash register and make change, how to interact with customers and how to eat all the candy I can for free….but also important lessons on what hard work was and how to help people. Another important life lesson was if a product or service doesn’t exist or could be improved upon, then do it yourself. One of the problems my family faced was as immigrants, they couldn’t afford barbershop shaves very often, however they longed for a way to affordably Bring Home The Barber Shop Shave.™ They wanted a shave experience as close to the barbershop but at a fraction of the price. And with that desire, a passion was born to create Barber-Grade products for themselves. In the evenings, the basement of Saltzman Pharmacy became a make-shift lab where they tested formulas, compounded ingredients and kept a running log of what they concocted until it was perfect.
