Wall Drug Billboards: 53

Yesterday I took I-90 from Sioux Falls and then highway 240 on the Badlands loops and found myself on the other end in Wall. My good friend Mike suggested that one of the things I count on my drive is how many Wall Drug billboards I see on my way. Well, you read it. There are at least 53 billboards for Wall Drug on that stretch and I know there are several that I missed. That’s a lot of billboards for one store on one stretch of highway. Some of the billboards simply state that there’s another Wall Drug billboard in places like Africa and Australia. It’s really quite the marketing campaign. The billboards entertain people as they drive along, and after seeing that many people are sure to stop in.

Did South Dakota invent the billboard? They sure know how to use them in this state. They have all these funny attractions that are known throughout the world in SD. The Corn Palace billboards are quite clever. The Wall Drug ones simply blow you away with the quantity of how many there are. There are many others too. With my advertising degree I have to say they did one heck of a job.

Wall Drug is quite the place. I thought I’d be inspired to take some pictures, but not really. It’s almost weird. You walk in and just ask yourself, “What the heck is this place?” But at the same time… you can never spend too much time there. It’s a pretty cool place. And while on a U.S. road trip it’s probably a law that you have to at least make a stop at Wall Drug.