Tales of Retail

duane_reade_liberty

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

Rx Apocolypse

The Adderall Panic of 2011!

Okay, this is a real problem,” began a frenzied email to the Transom. “Brian,” who works at a fashion magazine in Manhattan, was distraught, explaining: “I had a horror of a time filling my last scrip. Duane Reade and CVS are both fucked citywide.”

“Brian” was referring to his prescription of Adderall XR. A shortage Read More