W King & Son

This is one of the nicer independent chemists I’ve come across in Edinburgh. I’m all for supporting privately owned businesses, but frankly, some of them would hardly lure me from Boots or Superdrug. Please don’t judge me.
This one drew my attention because of its colourful display, which contains some beautiful toiletry bags, and animated signs and posters. The interior of the store is also quite superior to many others, with its rich wood panels and endless drawers on either side; a closer look revealed that they’re all still labelled in Latin!
Apart from medication, the pharmacy has a generous range of perfumes and lotions. You’d expect such a place to be much more expensive than a chain pharmacy, but you won’t break bank shopping at W King & Son.

By the look of the exterior of W K & Son, you might think the owners would try to cure all your ailment with leaches and enemas. But surprisingly this a pretty up to date pharmacy.
It’s great that this, and other, local independent chemists can stay open. Its especially good when they feel really unique. King & Son has a retro exterior but inside you can imagine what a ye olde chemist was like, but it’s full of new fangled products like food supplements and «medicine».
Of course they also offer usual chemist services like counter and prescription medicines. This is a great local shop that is far superior in service and quality that your any-​old chain store pharmacy.

I love independent chemists and you hardly ever see them anymore which is sad, instead they’ve been replaced by shiny new chemists such as Boots or a section in ASDA with no atmosphere at all really. W. King & Son has an amazing traditional feel with little ‘potion’ bottles dotted around and the whole store kitted out with wooden drawers where prescriptions and customer details would have been kept in days gone by.
They have a good selection of pharmaceuticals, vitamins, food supplements and a small range of shampoo, deodorant and other cosmetics.
In addition to this the staff are very friendly and the beautifully laid out shop is great to browse.

I only came here looking for a packet of Lockets or Tunes for a sore throat, but this independant chemists is really well stocked for a whole manner of ailments. The shop front outside looks a bit dour and uninviting, but inside it feels clean and well ordered, with a friendly, helpful owner. As it happens, they had a great range of cough syrups, Lemsips, painkillers and throat sweets.
I would certainly recommend this as a viable alternative to the major chain chemists which threaten to steal all business from them. So if you live locally and are looking for some help to quit smoking or just some paracetamol this is the place.