In 1849, William B. Blanding took over the drug and apothecary business of Edward T. Clarke who was located at 59 North Main Street in Providence.

Blanding increased the business so much that in 1869 he opened a new retail store at 48 North Main Street in the Arnold's block.

In 1873 he moved the wholesale end of the company into a larger location of its own at 54 and 58 Weybosset Street and shortly opened another retail store next to the wholesale operation.

Blanding dealt in the usual domestic and imported goods of the trade including patent medicines, drugs, chemicals, druggists' sundries, and fancy toilet items to name a few.

Although the company grew to the point that no one man could run all phases of the business, Blanding hired reputable pharmacists who ran the day to day operations. Blanding was constantly supervising all aspects of the firm since his reputation for quality goods and help was what made the company so successful.

In 1882, Blanding took over the drug and apothecary of Dr. Thomas W. Eddy & Co. located at 375 High Street.

After refitting the store with a complete line of choice medical goods, Blanding hired another registered pharmacist to operate the new store in the same trusted fashion as his other two locations.

In 1890, Blanding took in his son as partner and renamed the company Blanding & Blanding. William was to run the company with his son for only two years and died in 1892. His son ran the company until 1917 when it was incorporated.