Rite Aid

There are two Rite Aids in my neighborhood literally a block apart, but the main reason I go to this one is simply because of an employee. Barbara always makes me smile and greets me like she’s my best friend of 10 years when I walk in. I told my boyfriend if i’m ever having a rough morning before work, I go to Rite Aid and see if Barbara is working and my mood turns around!

let me first state the obvious — the disco ball is awesome, and random.
I love the pharmacy — I have been using this rite aid locations pharmacy for about a year and a half and have no complaints. Everyone is always pleasant and they remember me and have been super insightful. There is one guy who is always working at the pharmacy who let me know somethings about my prescriptions that the doctors didnt (i had a rough flu/​cold season) and next year I promise to him I will get a flu shot.

One star for the disco ball (it used to be a skating rink) and one star for having Sixlets come holiday candy time. There is one guy in the pharmacy who I like and who recognizes me (you’d hope after the better part of a decade that might happen), but pretty much everyone else behind that counter is an incompetent, hopeless disaster. I’d had my fill tonight when I found out it would take a total FOUR days for them to get straightened out an Rx renewal for something that is common and that I’ve used for years: «Can you go to Sunnyside to get it?» Oh, yeah, sure.

Two words…
DISCO BALL.
Next time you are in this store look up. You will see this a Disco Ball hanging directly in the center. It was a Movie Theater in the 1920s then a Roller Rink later on. Flash forward and now it’s a Rite Aid.
Enjoy.

This Rite Aid is a little piece of NY history repurposed and it’s really a cool place to just step inside of and look around. They haven’t changed the architecture much at all so it’s crazy browsing Rite Aid and seeing all the detailing from decades past. As a Rite Aid it’s fine, just a run of the mill convenience store.
The history is that the place was built in the 1920s as a silent movie theater called Fox Meserole. The Meserole’s were one of the first families to settle in the area and the theater was built on former farm land they owned. This may explain the cattle skulls on the outside detailing of the building. The theater stayed in place until the late 1970s. In the early 1980s this was Laces, a roller rink. High above the main floor still hangs the giant disco ball.
If you’re ever in the Greenpoint area for some donuts or Polish food, duck in Rite Aid and have a look around.
For more pics and information go to:

Disorder and disarray! Every single time I fill my prescriptions here, they say «30 minutes». So I wander off, get a chai latte at Upright, swing by Fanaberie, come back to Rite Aid, ever hopeful. «Sorry, it will be another 15 minutes». Then there’s a 10 minute line. On a good day. The checkout upfront is often staffed by the surliest of surly Polish ladies, so I make sure to yell «DZIEN DOBRY» at the top of my lungs so that they are a bit nicer to me. Hey, it works.
On the plus side, it used to be an ice skating rink. There is a disco ball. And by the pharmacy counter, there is a whispering gallery –esque spot (meaning, whatever you whisper will be amplified by the strange acoustics of the space). Cool.
This review started at two stars, but then there’s the disco ball.

This Rite Aid is the pharmacy equivalent of that scene in «Nightmare on Elm Street» where Freddy Kreuger lifts up his shirt and his stomach is made of the tortured souls of dead people screaming in excruciating pain.
I stopped going here because every time I came in it took 20 minutes to check out. Long lines that stretch on forever and a lone cashier to deal with it are just abysmal.

Long lines and sometimes the girl behind the pharmacy counter seems annoyed.

Long lines. I was just really surprised to find a disco ball in the middle of the store. Lol that’s not something you see at many pharmacies. I am amused by the weird layout of this store and it’s history, and that’s the only reason I really give it any stars.

This place is popular and crowded! A good thing for maybe a bar but not a drug store.
The space (an old roller rink), while neat looking does not provide a utilitarian shopping experience.
I’d advise using one of the other 10 drug stores in the area instead.

A great place to teach you about what’s in like to be in prison. No matter what time of day you walk in there there is at least a 20 minute wait in line.
The manager or whatever nitwit who «runs» this place is a cheap bastard. They only ever have one cashier working at a time, no matter how bad the line is. The management cares more about saving the $ 5/​hour it would take to hire a 2^nd cashier than about the customer’s time.
I have seen the line wrap around 2 aisles and they still will only put one person at register. Ironically the place has like 3 or 4 registers built in but no one working them ever. I guess they are just there to collect dust and mock the valuable time of the customers.

I love it. This Rite Aid used to be some kind of roller disco, I think. Cool atmosphere.
They have all the usual pharmacy stuff, the service is bad and there’s always a long line. A+

a) they have had all my favorite easter candies for the last month. Suck on that, CVSes and Duane Reades of Manhattan. Brilliance.
b) they have awesome pharmacists, who are super helpful and friendly even when you’re terribly ill and annoying. :)
c) who doesn’t like getting their low-​calorie Gatorade on sale (and cash back! in a city bereft of Wachovia ATMs!). love it.
moral of the story: the line always sucks, this is common to all rite aids. However, don’t forget that if you make friends with your neighborhood pharmacists, they will always be willing to ring you up downstairs.

The number here is listed wrong. it’s 718−383−7967. whenever i look up this rite aid i end up calling the OTHER rite aid on manhattan ave. Although if you do call this number, the people at the other rite aid are also super helpful and will point you in the right direction.

when i lived in this part of greenpoint, this former-​roller-​rink rite aid was my go-​to place for pharamcy item needs (its also conveniently located by peter pan bakery, so i could always make an excuse to get a red velvet donut). everything is there. it’s well kept. and the staff is friendly.

I go to this Rite Aid all the time to shop. It still has that cool Glittery big ball at the top of the ceiling lol. The place is huge and they always have my deodorant on sale (Phoenix Axe). And the Cashiers are pretty nice, well other then the old spanish lady. Some days she’s kinda crabby but oh well i dont take it personally lol. And the place is pretty big. Plus it doesnt hurt that I live 2 blocks away lol.

The fact that it’s in an old roller rink and still has the disco ball hanging from the ceiling might makes it the coolest Rite Aid ever. That’s kind of like being the coolest person in a Dungeons and Dragons game, but still, just enough to make a trip to Rite Aid a tad more fun than your average price check on Dr. Scholl’s.
Check it out, then leave and give your money to Chopin Chemists or Napolitano Pharmacy.

Dear Lorraine,
Why are you so petulant? Every time you ring me up you are sullen, bitter, and beyond unhelpful. I’ve seen you roll your eyes at customers, you refuse to answer when someone speaks to you, and are the slowest human being in existence. Yesterday you didn’t want me to pay with a $ 20 because you «didn’t have change». You even made me prove that my wallet had no small bills lurking behind my receipts. But when you opened your drawer it was full of small bills.
Sometimes I comfort myself by imagining why you must be such an awful human being. Do you have an alcoholic husband at home that beats you? Are you homeless? Maybe you’re like Phinneas Gage and had a serious brain injury, rendering you a sulking, bad-​tempered and sour cashier. Maybe you won the lottery but squandered it on cigarettes and booze and had to go back to work. You are the worst person I have ever encountered in my entire life.
My new strategy for dealing with you is to torment you. I’m going to chatter away constantly, waste your time, pay with large bills, and argue with you over the price of everything. I will drive you away. I will make your life hell.
Signed,
Greenpoint

Being from CT-​the land of CVSs, I was a little skeptical of Rite Aids and Duane Reades when I first moved here. The day I moved into my apartment, I realized that I needed a few things so I happened to come upon this Rite Aid. This might be one of the first things that made me love Brooklyn. Like others have said, it’s not your typical drug store, with a ramps down to the aisles, my roommate and I knew it must have been a roller skating rink, hopefully a disco-​rollerskating rink due to the gigantic disco ball in the vaulted ceiling. When friends have visited, I’ve taken them here just so they could see it for themselves.
in my apartment, it will always be known as «Disco Rite Aid»
(Kudos for being wheelchair accessible!)

I second Matthew S.‘s review about the Greenpoint Rite Aid. The place is very unassuming — you walk through the normal-​looking storefront, and it’s just a regular store… for about 60 feet. Then you get into a cavernous circular space with the product aisles bookended on one side by the pharmacy. The ceiling is painted black but right below the vault are these gorgeous mouldings surrounding the space. It may have even been a ballroom prior to being a skating rink. There’s a huge-​mongous disco ball in the center, even.
There’s so much history in this space, it’s a shame it’s turned into a Rite-​Aid… but you have to agree, it’s probably the coolest Rite-​Aid in New York.