Duane Reade | Observer

By Emily Witt 7/19/11 7:09pm

While We Wallow in Walmart, Duane Reade Dominates

In the marbled halls of a converted lobby in the Trump Building on Wall Street last week, a party was underway. Rihanna was blasting from turntables manned by D.J. Clue. A line of office workers waited for autographed photographs from baseball once-was Darryl Strawberry. Caterers in bow ties circulated trays of chicken skewers and stuffed peppers.

It almost could have been a nightclub, except that it was 11 a.m. and, in a corner, a woman presided over a table of free antifungal toenail spray samples. Despite the professional athlete and the music, this was a Duane Reade, the opening of the drug store chain’s new flagship store. Read More

By Andrew Wood 7/06/11 1:53pm

Opening Day

Photo by Andrea Sperling for Getty Images

Wall Street’s New Duane Reade Is All Business

Yesterday afternoon The Observer got wind of a grandiose affair to take place at the The Trump Building at 40 Wall Street the following morning. The grand opening of Duane Reade there is the company’s newest effort to tailor a pharmacy to its neighborhood.

The official Facebook event boasted 41 Duane Reade diehards planning to attend the opening. Curiosity got the better of us, and we thought we’d pop down to 40 Wall to see what the fuss was about. Read More

By Anila Alexander 4/29/11 9:36pm

Protests

Say No to Drugstore: Residents, Elected Officials to Protest Duane Reade Sign

City residents and elected officials are coming together this Sunday to rally against a flashing neon sign at an Upper West Side Duane Reade.

The flashing billboard, affixed to the second story of a Duane Reade at 72nd and Broadway, has generated complaints from neighborhood residents who say that the sign is disruptively bright. The Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/14/11 6:16pm

The Mysteries of Brooklyn

A Comprehensive List of All the Bars 'That Specialize in Beer' in Williamsburg

So, we’ve already established that Williamsburgers hate chain stores, particularly the new Duane Reade on their beloved Bedford Avenue, which is locked in a deathmatch with a mom-and-pop pharmacy across the street. We have also established that The New York Times is somehow ignorant of Brooklyn, the most populous borough in Read More

By Nate Freeman 11/12/10 9:43pm

Brooklyn

Chain Stores and Brand Names Descend Upon Williamsburg

Yesterday we learned that R.J. Reynolds, the enormous cigarette manufacturer, would be rolling out a new type of Camels: Williamsburg Camels. Why would that cigarette company take this quaint neighborhood in Brooklyn, exploit it, and use its imagery to lure teens to cigarettes? Oh, right, because they believe Williamsburg is “the most famous hipster Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/05/10 6:12pm

Walmart Wars

What If Walmart Was Good for New York

So Walmart is determined once again to invade New York. Could this actually be a good thing?

The Neighborhood Retail Alliance has a detailed post up with new information about Walmart’s plans for smaller stores in the city. But it sounds like these will be grocery store/mini-mart hybrids, not big-box department stores. Read More

By Dana Rubinstein 4/19/10 3:30pm

Duane Reade’s Mystifying Real Estate Transactions

The Real Deal has more details in its ongoing, and very, very, very in-depth coverage of the trial of two Duane Reade execs, Anthony Cuti and William Tennant, who allegedly engaged in some questionable leasing practices in New York City using brokerage Winick Realty Group, headed at the time by Jeff Winick and Read More

By Emily Geminder 10/13/09 11:54am

Duane Reade Goes for Omnipresence: 200 Water First in Major Re-branding

Duane Reade is in for a makeover. The ubiquitous drug store chain is planning to re-brand 100 of its 253 New York locations over the upcoming year. High on the re-branding agenda are wider aisles and respectable lighting for the stores better known for dingy claustrophobia.

In tune with the re-branding, this summer Duane Reade Read More

By Matt Haber 5/05/09 10:31am

Saying Goodbye To The Old ‘City’: Writers, Bagpiper, Bid Farewell to Defunct Times Section

On the rainy evening of the fourth of May, a small group of people showed up at 17 Murray, a bar in Tribeca decorated with Frank Sinatra’s mugshot and one of those talking Rodney Dangerfield statues one might find in an Archie McPhee catalog, to celebrate the life and recent Read More

By Lysandra Ohrstrom 7/31/08 4:21pm

New York City Runs on Dunkin’

The Center for an Urban Future, a nonpartisan think tank based in Manhattan, released its first-ever ranking (PDF) of the national chain retailers with the most stores in New York City.

Perhaps surprisingly, Starbucks did not even make it into the top three, though the Seattle-based coffee chain does have the biggest Read More

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While We Wallow in Walmart, Duane Reade Dominates

Wall Street’s New Duane Reade Is All Business

Say No to Drugstore: Residents, Elected Officials to Protest Duane Reade Sign

A Comprehensive List of All the Bars 'That Specialize in Beer' in Williamsburg

Chain Stores and Brand Names Descend Upon Williamsburg

What If Walmart Was Good for New York

Duane Reade’s Mystifying Real Estate Transactions

Duane Reade Goes for Omnipresence: 200 Water First in Major Re-branding

Saying Goodbye To The Old ‘City’: Writers, Bagpiper, Bid Farewell to Defunct Times Section

New York City Runs on Dunkin’

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