When Jerry and Wanda Braswell opened their namesake drugstore on Tyler Street in 1981, Covington was a much smaller place than today.

There were fewer people, there were fewer cars and there were a lot more pine trees. There was also, notably, a need among local residents for a hometown pharmacy.

Over the ensuing decades, Braswell’s would become more than just a drugstore and gift shop. It became for many people an unofficial meeting place. Catching up with old friends and neighbors at Braswell’s wasn’t just an occasional occurrence. It was an expectation.

Flash forward to today, and a lot has changed as a result of explosive population growth on the Northshore. One thing that has more or less remained the same, however: Braswell’s pharmacy and its unique, homespun sensibility.

That’s not to say there have been no changes. In 1995, the original pharmacy building was replaced by a larger, two-story brick building erected on the same site across the street from St. Tammany Health System’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital.

Perhaps the biggest change came in 2018, when the Braswells retired and sold the business to new owners.

When it went on the market again in September 2023, however, St. Tammany Health System – which also enjoys deep local roots, having been founded in 1954 by the very community it serves – jumped at the chance to keep it in local hands, buying the business and rebranding it as the St. Tammany Health System Pharmacy at Braswell’s.

“We are, of course, excited and grateful to expand St. Tammany Health System’s retail operation today,” health system President and CEO Joan Coffman said at the store’s grand reopening in February 2024. “But I am particularly gratified that we were able to purchase this iconic business and keep it locally owned.

“Under our stewardship, our Northshore neighbors can rest assured that Braswell’s will continue to serve the Northshore community with compassion and professionalism for years to come.”