How do you stop the drawers sticking?

Rubbing a simple block of paraffin wax along the wooden runners usually solves friction issues. You just slide the drawer out and coat the bottom edges. Avoid modern silicone sprays. The liquid ruins the timber fibres and makes future repairs difficult.

I bought a really big old unit but the drawers are missing their dividers, is there a way to tell what they originally held?

Look closely at the inside panels of the drawer boxes. You will often see faint vertical score lines or cleaner bands of wood where the original dividers sat. Haberdashery units usually have multiple slots for shifting divisions. Hardware and seed drawers tend to have fixed slots, sometimes with handwritten labels still tacked to the back board.

Can they be split into sections?

Many large shop fittings were built in modular sections so they're easier to move. Check the side panels. A horizontal seam often indicates where the top section simply lifts off the base.

The shop fitter who pulled this out of the old pharmacy told me to strip the paint off the sides, should I do that?

Stripping original paint from the sides of an antique bank of drawers destroys part of its commercial history. These carcases were often painted to match the specific shop interior while the drawer fronts were polished. Leave the sides exactly as they are. The layered paint tells the story of the premises and provides a stable surface.

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Antique Bank of Drawers

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An antique bank of drawers is a substantial freestanding or built-in storage unit featuring multiple small drawers originally designed for sorting stock in apothecaries, haberdasheries, or hardware shops.