Fusspflege Alvita (Thusis)

History March 9, 1945: A new store opens in Thusis, a branch that did not exist before. On this day, Alfred Schneider Sr. and his wife Gertrud opened the Schneider drugstore at Neudorfstrasse 74. Alfred Schneider grew up in Thusis, attended schools there and then completed an apprenticeship as a druggist in Basel.

He then attended the Swiss Drug School in Neuchâtel to deepen his knowledge. After a few years of wandering and practicing in various drugstores, Alfred and his wife took the risk of opening their own store at that time. Compared to today, the 30 square meters of store space offered a few items, including detergents, toothpaste and saccharin as an artificial sweetener, since sugar was still rationed at that time. At that time, their clientele expanded to the Engadine and Samnaun, as you can easily see from the postal control sections of the time. Since even then it was no longer sufficient to simply sell goods over the counter, Alfred Schneider began to put what he had learned to good use. He started making home specialties such as bile soap, which is still used today to pre-clean stains. A piece of it has been preserved.

On Sundays, hikes were made on the Heinzenberg with the aim of coming home in the evening with one, if possible two, backpacks full of tea herbs. In particular, arnica flowers, dandelions, lady's mantle, silver mantle, wool flowers, willow bark and many other plants were collected. These were then professionally dried and then sold as individual teas or mixed teas processed. Such collection campaigns can no longer be imagined today because species protection no longer allows professional collection and the meadows are now fertilized, which in turn would not withstand a purity test. Thanks to excellent commercial management, technical competence and a cleverly expanded product range, the drugstore developed positively in the following years. In the spring of 1959, the serious side of life began for the son Fredi Schneider: on April 13, he started a four-year apprenticeship as a druggist in a drugstore in Thalwil. More about this source textSource text required for additional translation information