Duane Reade

They treat customers like some kindergartners. I guess they don’t do any kind of screening before they hire someone with attitude on top of attitude. If you really dislike everyone in this entire world you shouldn’t be in retail. And this is not for one specific clerk but it’s for at least three of them in this store. Unbelievable.

Okay, I really like this Duane Reade because you can walk through to it from the 6^th avenue side to the Broadway side. Yes, I’m a little lazy. Who cares? You can walk a block inside and you don’t have to make any unnecessary turns! It’s also right next door to Fed Ex, so I do it mostly for that reason.
This DR has two floors of goodness, as per most of them. The aisles on the first floor are pretty short, full of sweets and things you shouldn’t be getting. For the most parts there aren’t any complaints, but 99% of the items are displayed as on sale as they should be. I feel like you have to be part of the DR secret shopping club to know what’s on sale. I’ve gone to the register more than once to find that my item is buy one get one free. Not like I need two of anything, but it would help to know ahead of time.
The two registers are also nice, you don’t feel like a loser like at Kmart, when you get to the downstairs register, only to find it’s closed.

In terms of the pharmacy worst location Ive been to, they didnt know where anything was and they took their time finding it. Spent a half hour waiting to pick up a perscription that a had called in two days before. I won’t be refilling at this location again.

10 people in line.
1 cashier.
Come on.
Otherwise, it is clean and new. It’s middle-​of-​the-​road as far as Duane Reade is concerned. I’m underwhelmed.

This is the Duane Reade closest to my office and the only store nearby that sells a decent selection of pretzels (the corner vendor does not count!). Occasionally, I buy six bags of pretzels for my Accountant. We call it the pretzel party and snack on them during the day to pass the time.
The pretzels at Duane Reade used to share the chip display near the pharmacy but now they have their own section in the aisle in the very back of the store. The selection isn’t that great. It’s different every time. Sometimes there are classic twists and sticks by Rold Gold, butter and squares by Snyders, or sesame and rye by Utz. Rold Gold has the best tasting pretzels. Snyders is a little expensive but necessary to break up the original monotony variety by Rold Gold. Utz brand ranks really poor on the quality scale. Sometimes I go over to Hersheys and get some chocolate covered pretzels. But that’s only if the bags in my basket are looking sad.
This Duane Reade is well stocked in everything else. I tend to pick up a lot of random things here in order to get me through the day. Kleenex, Lysol, Twix, Pepcid, etc. They have it all.
The line is usually long and sometimes the person at the counter doesn’t listen to me when I tell them I brought my own plastic bag. But that happens everywhere so I can’t really hold it against them.
Lastly, if you are planning on shoplifting from this Duane Reade, forget it. They have secret security all over the store and they are watching you. I once saw the security guard jump over a mom pushing a double stroller filled with two toddlers in order to tackle a shoplifter in front of the doors. They will catch you and are not afraid to cause a ruckus over it. I think a display was knocked over and the chase was very loud.
This kind of action make my office breaks very exciting.