Variable Luck at the Good Luck Drug Store

L.W. Stapleton needed some good luck to compete in the drug store trade in Chippewa Falls.  After all he was literally next door to one of his main competitors.  But maybe he was the kind of guy who relied on luck here and there.  Some of his non business interests suggest that.

In 1912 he announced that he was leaving the trade after 30 years in business.  So lets put his arrival on the scene at 1882.  I start seeing ads for his store in 1884 so that seems about right.

In the 1880's he was manager of the Chippewa Base Ball club, an undertaking where Luck is not unhelpful.

And he was a serious fisherman.  He was a member of the Home Fishing Club which later changed its name to the Chippewa Fishing Club.  They had a club house at Chetek and at one point were said to be buying a 14 person boat!  He also had his own place at Chetek, called The White Lodge.

Luck, in business or in angling, can be good or bad.  In 1896 there was a big spring ice pile up on the Chippewa River and downtown businesses had extensive water damage.  The Good Luck store was no exception but as a partial compensation in the process of moving stock out of harms way Stapleton supposedly found a pocketbook full of cash!  In another bit of bad luck The White Lodge burned to the ground in the middle of the night in July of 1908.  A party of young people from Chippewa were staying there and accounts of the ladies scrambling out in various states of undress and the young gentlemen enjoying the whole situation are a bit saucy.

Stapleton's farewell message is worth presenting as is:

Stapleton's Luck ran hot and cold.  But he did have very nice bottles.  Several versions are known all of which feature a horseshoe.

His house also remains at 707 West Grand.