YOLO COUNTY AT A GLANCE
How did the business begin?
The Corner Drug building was construct-
ed in the 1890s and originally housed
a dry goods business run by brothers
Joseph and George Jacobs, according to
the store’s website. In 1897, the busi-
ness became Corner Drug Store, and
changed hands and name again in 1934
to Corner Drug Company. Lisa’s father,
Karl Hanke, was hired as a delivery boy
at the store in 1940, and, after graduating
from pharmacy school, returned to the
store as a pharmacist in 1951. Eight years
later, Hanke became a co-owner and then
sole owner in 1980. In 1999, he sold the
business to Lisa, and she took over daily
operations. Her husband, Ed Shelley, took
on the role of manager and handled the
retail side of the operations. Their daugh-
ter, Sara Shelley, says her fondest memo-
ries were working the Saturday shift in
the pharmacy with her grandfather. She
followed in her mother and grandfather’s
footsteps, joining the family business as a
pharmacist after graduating from UOP in
2008 (Lisa and Sara are two of the store’s
four pharmacists). Four years ago, Sara
and her husband, Erik Daniells, took over
day-to-day operations of the store. “Sara
started working for us when she was 12,”
Lisa says. “I made her fill out a job appli-
cation, which I still have on file.” Lisa and
Ed’s younger daughter, Kristina Shelley,
also works at the store as a pharmacy
tech. “Now I have a granddaughter (Iris,
11 months old, is Sara and Erik’s daugh-
ter) who lives two minutes away from
me,” Lisa says, “and we have the fourth
generation at Corner Drug.”
What about that building?
The Corner Drug building, at Main and
First streets, can’t be missed, mostly
because of the architecture and signage.
Lisa says the original Victorian style was
changed in 1910, when the wood was
covered with stucco and the bracketed
tile hoods were added above the win-
dows, making it one of Woodland’s first
Mission Revival buildings. The iconic
neon sign was installed in 1948 by the
Federal Heath Sign Company, she says.
“(It) was rented … until my dad bought
out his partner,” Lisa says. “He called
Population: 212,605 (*58,234)
Median Age: 30.9 (*35.7)
Median Income: $61,621 (*$60,446)
County Seat: Woodland
THE 10-COUNTY
CAPITAL REGION
Biggest Cities: Davis (67,500),
Woodland (58,234), West Sacramento
(52,206), Winters (7,059)
*Woodland data
SOURCE: HTTPS://DATAUSA.IO
the company and asked how much it
would be to buy out the contract. They
said $500, so he then owned the sign.”
The building once also housed a bar
in the basement. “It shut down during
Prohibition,” Lisa says. “At that time, the
pharmacy sold alcohol and wine by pre-
scription.” During Prohibition, the U.S.
Treasury Department allowed physi-
cians to write prescriptions for medici-
nal alcohol to treat a range of illnesses,
including anemia, tuberculosis and high
blood pressure, according to a History
channel story. Lisa says the store sold its
liquor license long ago, and the shelves
that used to hold alcohol now are filled
with toys.
Why Woodland?
Like many small downtowns in the
Capital Region, Woodland’s Main Street
is bustling, with a plethora of restaurants
and shops and, just a few blocks from
Corner Drug, the historic State Theatre
and Multiplex, which was renovated and
reopened in 2017 after being shuttered
for seven years. “Being in downtown
Woodland has been exciting since we’ve
seen years when Main Street was a ghost
town,” Sara says. “We now have a slew
of new restaurants, and downtown has
come alive.” She points out events such
as the California Honey Festival in May
and weekly First Sundays Food Truck
Mania that draw people to the historic
district.
What's your biggest
achievement?
Lisa says when she began working at
Corner Drug, it had two phone lines and
two manual typewriters. “Everything
was done by hand,” she says, “including
filling out insurance forms.” In 1983, she
was asked to select a computer system. “I
bought one, and it sat on the counter in
the back for about six months. Eventually,
I got tired of waiting and started using
it myself.” Change has been fairly rapid,
Lisa says. “It was a big day for us when
my husband told me that we were busy
enough to buy a robot that would count
pills.” She says the store now has two
robots, one that counts pills and one that
“puts together customized packaging
for patients that need help tracking their
daily medication.”
Tom Couzens is executive editor of
Comstock’s. On Twitter @tomcouzens.
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March 2020 | comstocksmag.com
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