Duane Reade

Friendly folks and a random solo register behind the larger strip of them at the front of the store, where they accepted Android Pay after I explained it to them.

Average store, a little sparse looking. Cold inside. Staff friendly. Selection average. But they do have all the staples.

This shows up in a pharmacy search but there is NO pharmacy here. You have to go to 2^nd Ave.

Great pharmacy and conveniently located. May switch over permanently here. Orders take longer to arrive than cvs in general but better service I find.

very very nice duane reade, i used to come here all the time but now they have renovated and decked out this place. probably the best pharmacy in this area for sure.
best of all the pharmacy is amazing, those techs and the pharmacists know what they are doing. helped me out with my insurance for about 1hr. only problem is that they keep very low stock so you have to come back again and again.

This location is a Duane Reade Express, so it’s smaller than a full sized version. I don’t believe they have a pharmacy, but it will have your basic household needs.

The «Mini-​Me» of Duane Reade’s.

Seriously, when I entered into this store to pick up some office snacks the other day I felt like as if I entered a store that was shrunk in half. It pretty much had all the normal rows of products you find in a Duane Reade, but all swished into half the amount of rows. It’s almost as if they found this empty storefront and decided to squeeze one in here. Kind of makes sense since there seems to be one every few street corners in this city.

The store itself is still new looking, clean, bright and organized. Not just bright, but eye blindlingly bright. I almost brought a pair of sunglasses to walk around and shop here. Even the staff on hand are pretty helpful when I ended up looking for a few things to bring home.

Funny thing is, there is a full sized Duane Reade a few blocks away that is kind of craptacular. I think I prefer this smaller version now. Sometimes size doesn’t matter I guess. Right ladies? Huh? Huh?

See, I love this place. If all DRs could be like this, New Yorkers would be much happier. It’s clean, well-​lit, friendly. And the odd thing is, just two blocks away on 2^nd Ave. is a shit-​hole of a DR. Not sure what the difference is in this express one, but I like it.

I walked into this Duane Reade one night and call me Manfred Mann and his Earth Band because I was blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night. Seriously, it was way too fucking bright in here. Instead of normal fluorescent tubes, the place was lit with a huge number of these big circular arc light things that put off a sterile and overpowering white light.
It was like any scene on the bridge in the most recent Star Trek movie, shitloads of lens flare everywhere. It was like that thing they use to look in your mouth with at the dentist. I felt like I was about to be interrogated and/​or operated upon. It was uncomfortable and actually hurt my eyes.
My friends and I commented about this to the staff and they were entirely unsympathetic and a bit weird about it. Maybe it was because the manager was right there so they were reluctant to speak out, but it seemed to me like the place was objectively too bright and my friends felt the same way.
I will not be returning to this Duane Reade, that’ll show em.

Duane Reade Express (I refer to ALL Duane Reade’s as simply Duane – pronounced «Dwan») is a perplexing version of the Duanes located on every block in the city.
When we saw Duane Express, we thought, this is strange – it has Duane’s name on it and it doesn’t appear to be much smaller than the normal Duanes. It also had a spiffy black sign opposed to the red, white and blue ones that look like they haven’t been cleaned since 1988. Finally, It was called not Duane Reade, but Duane Express. Express, huh? What on earth can that possibly mean?
After visiting a quick walk through the store, the only possible meaning to express that I can give is «Bizarro». Duane Express is simply Bizarro Duane.
Where regular Duane is filthy and rundown, Duane Express is clean, orderly and new looking. Where regular Duane has dank old lighting, Duane express has bright lighting. When in a regular Duane it would take you an hour to buy a product that costs $ 1.99, in Duane Express you can fill a handbasket and be out of there in 5 minutes flat. When you leave a regular Duane you are generally enraged and feel like you want to choke the life out of someone (probably the cashier you just dealt with), after leaving Duane Express you might actually smile. Where regular Duane employees are flat out rude, lazy, purposefully slow and incompetent, Duane Express employees appear to be friendly, hard-​working and attentive.
.
This following dialogue actually took place about 30 seconds after we walked in:
Duane Express employee: «Hello sir, is there something specific that you are looking for that I can help you find?»
Me (to my friend): «What the?! DId he just say hello and ask if I needed help?!?»
My friend: standing speechless and shocked.
Duane Express employee: laughs a bit, but appears confused.
Me: «I’m sorry, that’s never happened to me in a Duane before. But we’re OK. Thanks for asking though.»
Duane Express employee (with a genuine smile): «Anytime! Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.”*
*Unlike Roderick A’s experience, it actually was the weekend.
Imagine that – a clean, orderly, bright Duane with employees that not only appear as if they aren’t trying to move slower, but actually are pro-​active and friendly!!! THEY’RE FRIENDLY, I TELL YA! FRIENDLY!!!
Bizarro World, indeed!
So this begs the question – if regular Duane and Duane express are merely the same store except for Duane Express being Bizarro Duane, why don’t the Duane executives convert EVERY regular Duane with Duane Expresses and replace all the regular crude and lazy Duane employees with Duane Express employees?
I typically HATE Duane. HATE ‘IM! But, Bizarro Duane – hey, you’re alright, man! Stay cool, brotha!

I think I may like Duane Reade Express as opposed to regular Duane Reade stores. It’s smaller, which makes things easier to find. And the employees actually stop what they’re doing and help you look for what you’re searching for. Actually, the employee stopped what he was doing, asked me if I needed help, and found the item for me. That’s what I call customer service.
I was looking for a bottle of betadine, which I know isn’t the most common thing you look for. But the dude found it for me, like THAT, and I was out of there in less than five minutes.
I also appreciated that the sales clerk wished me a great weekend, which was funny since it was only still Wednesday evening.