Borroum's Drug Store and Soda Fountain
Borroum's Drug Store and Soda Fountain is the oldest continuously operating pharmacy in Mississippi. It was opened in 1865 by former Confederate Army surgeon A.J. Borroum, and moved to its current location in 1873. We found Borroum's somewhat by accident—after visiting the Coon Dog Cemetery in Alabama, we were driving back to Memphis and decided to stop for lunch in Corinth.
Borroum's is still an operating pharmacy in addition to having a soda fountain and a large collection of antiques on display. They're famous for their Slugburgers—a mixture of pork or beef and extender (mostly soymeal), flattened into a disk and fried—which were invented in Corinth. As inviting as a sack of mystery meat sliders sounds, I opted for my diner lunch staple: a BLT and a chocolate milkshake, with zero regrets.
As delicious as the food was, the atmosphere of Borroum's is the main draw. The store has been in the Borroum family since it opened, and it's currently owned by Camille Borroum-Mitchell, great-granddaughter of the founding doctor. Camille started working in the store when she was about 14, washing dishes. After she became the University of Mississippi’s first female pharmacy graduate, she moved to the pharmacy and her son and daughter-in-law operate the soda fountain.
Borroum's collection of antique medicine bottles reminded me of the Pharmacy Museum in New Orleans. I will forever love the typography and design of old things—most of these bottles and boxes are tiny works of art. I love the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of the labels and taglines such as, "Miller's Oil formerly known as Snake Oil but does not contain snake oil," and "The Doctor in Candy Form."
Borroum's Drug Store
604 E Waldron Street,
Corinth, MS 38834
Open Mon-Sat, 9-5
