In St. Petersburg, Fla., slight, dapper James Earl Webb, 49, operates what he calls "the world's most unusual drugstore." Unlike most independent druggists, he never felt that he needed the protection of "fair-trade" (i.e., minimum-price) laws to protect him from the competition of big chain stores. Instead, he went out after customers with such unorthodox loss-leader promotions as selling two thousand $1 bills for 95ยข apiece. By selling everything from meat and liquor to haircuts and ladies' ready-to-wear, he boosted the annual gross of his hustle-bustling "Webb's City" from a first-year $39,000 (in 1925) to some $12 million currently.
While...
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