Duane Reade

Their customer service at the pharmacy was a little pathetic. I was told a prescription would be ready and went 10 minutes later to pick it up. They had three pharmacists on staff and every single person kept answering new phone calls instead of helping the long line of patients waiting to pick up their prescription. I sat and waited for about 20 minutes and once they told me it was ready, I sat waiting for several minutes right in front of the pharmacist who didn’t offer to help anyone. Pick the pharmacy on Broadway between 75^th and 76^th before this one, they actually acknowledge your presence.

the pharmacy is terrible. they are judgmental, lazy, and rude. the guy pharmacist is a bit of a sadist — i avoid this place like the plague, tonight i thought i would go because it has been years and i needed my prescription filled. it was a miserable experience. if you need prescriptions filled, go to Broadway Family Pharmacy on 85^th and Broadway. They are such lovely people and QUICK … and just decent and nice. i only went to this DR because of their version of generic I like — but i took the script back when the DR pharmacist told me (when i went back after waiting an hour) the insurance would not approve till tomorrow. other pharmacy would have checked it and told me straight away instead of letting me wait an hour and then telling me. wasted the evening.

Went in looking for Band-​Aids. Box of 10 large ones is priced at $ 7.79. Luckily decided not to buy it there. Found same at another drugstore a few blocks away for $ 3.89! That means that Duane Reade is charging DOUBLE! Highway robbery or what?

Holy moly this place is awful. Consistently bad check-​out experiences. I swear I will walk the extra avenue block to the other location. Maybe.

Kind of a cramped location and I don’t like how when the line gets long, it goes down the aisle so if you’re looking for something there, you have to dodge a lot of people.
However, when I bought a candy bar I put in my # for my Duane Reade rewards and the friendly cashier said «Oh, you can buy one and get one half price if you like». So I did exactly that, thereby obtaining two candy bars at a discounted price.
I like candy bars, although these were not Fifth Avenues, unfortunately. Three stars for the helpful service.

It used to be that you went to these stores because it was a bargain. This store is a disaster in pricing. Most everything is overpriced. Use only the flyer. Kids run this store.

Worst pharmacy dept ever. I have a broken hip with a fractured bones thruout my body. After filling several prescriptions for controlled and non controlled meds at this branch, the pharmacist would not dispense any medicine without speaking with my doctor’s office. Fair enough. But most pharmacies will talk to the nurses, or assistants to verify, which he did. But that was not good enough for him. He enjoyed making me wait 3 hours after telling me it would be another 2 hours to fill a lousy 60 penicillin and 60 Percocet. Good thing I didn’t ask for my usual 100mcg Fentanyl. He’d have beaten me to death.
Funny part is I’ve been a Duane Reade customer at 88 & Broadway forever. Great people. I asked Mr. Benito Mussolini at our 79 street branch if there is any way he could call his peers on 88 street to verify I am not a criminal. He told me he decides who gets filled, not 88 street. He also asked why I look so healthy and needed medicine.
Worst pharmacy ever. Negative 5 stars. And when I remember this sadists name I’m putting it on blast on every social site plus cancer support group for patients who network with one another about pharmacy/​doctors/​hospitals, etc.

I had a terrible experience at Duane Reade on Amsterdam Avenue and 79^th street. While my friend was making a purchase, the cashier looks at me and asks me the STUPIDEST question ever that too OUT LOUD in front of the big line behind us! «Do your eyebrows connect»? First of all, if you don’t know how to talk to a customer, just stay quiet and do your job. I answer her, «No.» She asks me again with a giggle, «They don’t connect? They look like they do, if you grow them. Oh, Am I insulting you?» I told her she insulted me and she still laughed. Then the female cashier next her started laughing too. No one had a courtesy to apologize for the embarrassment they caused. I will never step in this Duane Reade again, mainly because of their employees. Whoever the manager is at this place should teach the employees some manners, common sense and professionalism. If not, fire them!

Going through renovations so you’ve got like plastic sheets draping from the ceiling. Once they get it fixed up, it will hopefully be nicer.

I always dread going here… in reading the reviews I say to myself, «Okay, so it’s not just me»… the people who work here (most of them) should be on a Saturday Night Live sketch parody of ‘apathetic workers’. You wonder what happened to them in their lives or maybe they’re just stoned or maybe they’re just pissed they are working at Duane Reade. There’s never enough help at the register. Always a long-​ass line. And I sit here with bronchitis tonight thinking I was going to pick up my meds from them… just my luck that on Sundays they close the Pharmacy at 7:30 pm as opposed to other days when it’s 10:00PM. But don’t they say ’”24 hours”? Wouldn’t that lead you to believe you could get your meds? So they say they deliver prescriptions but only if the CC is on file and they don’t take CC#s over the phone. So you have to go there with your hacking cough in the winter and pick it up. Never again. Automatons. This one girl was like an absolute case study. A robot. ‘Welcome to Duane Reade how can I help you” monotoned, meek voiced, gum chewing and eyes averted. Someone needs to shoot a firecracker up in that place where the sun does not shine in these people. I’m trying not to be too harsh but read these other reviews. I certainly hope the owner does. I’m going to go somewhere else to get meds next time. Always … and I mean always a line. I’ll take Park West Pharmacy on Columbus… good energy there everytime I’ve gone. Caution: do not go if you’re PMS… it could get ugly. Bottom of the food chain.

Had to get a quick umbrella here in the middle of a rain storm. This spot is well lit and has the classic DR goodies. It took a surprisingly long time to check out, but I think that’s because a slew of people had just entered the store looking for umbrellas.

Since «expanding,» the only reason to set foot in this Duane Reade is the pharmacy. Most of the expanded space has been devoted to cosmetics and mostly frozen food — for which the prices are gougingly high. The chances of finding what used to be staples — OTC medications, light bulbs, and the miscellany of need-​it-​now items required for city living — are fairly nil. Its’ self-​proclaimed «convenience» is nonexistent.

1 star is for the pharmacy. Worst staff. Definitely not the kind of people who go above and beyond or even just try at their jobs. Had an issue with a prescription. It was filled at a different Walgreens (WG now owns DR), and I wanted it transferred to this one. The person I spoke with said it couldn’t be done because it was a new Rx — not true. I argued for just a few seconds until I realized it was futile. Got the whole, «it’s policy, ma’am, there’s nothing I can do» line — basically, «there may be some way I can actually help, but I’m too f***ing lazy to try.» I called the original Walgreens where it was already filled (in NJ, where pharm staff actually know what they’re doing), and the girl there was super friendly and said she would call the NYC DR and sort things out. I mean, come one, wtf DR. The f***ing people who work there drive me insane. I called back a little while later, and what do you know, the Rx was able to be transferred, thanks to the wonderful people at the Walgreens in Short Hills, NJ.

The people that work here look miserable for the exception of one girl with the faux hawk that works as a cashier. She is the saving grace at this place and brings a smile to my face whenever i walk in here…(yeah thats right i rhymed!)…anywho, their pharmacy sucks, they all look like they’re on downers, and you shouldn’t even bother asking anyone for help.

The pharmacy counter at this Duane Reade is a busy place. Fairly frequent visits have borne out to me that pretty much everyone who works there is mentally retarded and incapable of even the most basic, routine, commonsense functions that it would be normal to expect from a person employed in such a capacity. Even if you go with absolutely no expectations of customer satisfaction, you will be severely disappointed by the level of service you will receive. You will find only a sorry crew of fumbling, bumbling dimwits. But they’re nice folks, at least.

While I don’t expect much from the staff at any Duane Reade this one takes the cake for patron abuse. On my last visit a very frail looking elderly woman came in and explained to the clerk that she needed a shopping cart in order to be able to shop in the store. The store clerk gave the woman a look that said «why is this my problem» and pointed out the baskets that roll around on wheels. Kudos to you Duane Reade clerk for proving that even DMV job rejects can find employment in NYC.

At some point, when you pay $ 22 for a bottle of over the counter cough syrup and a 12 pack of Coke, you start rethinking your life choices.

** Robbery. For one roll of toilet paper:
$ 1.49 + 12 cents tax = $ 1.61 !!!
** They will only take checks when the pharmacy dept. is open because the pharmacy dept. has a secret check-​sniffing machine nobody else is allowed to operate.
** No product stays in the same place. Every time you look for something you bought before, it has moved. It is someplace else. Nobody knows where. Instead they bitch and moan about how product location is decided Somewhere Else, and We Have Nothing to Say.
* Duane Reade is only for emergencies when noplace else is open. At all other times, go to Price-​Wise at Broadway and W. 81. They are nice. They know where things are. They tend to be in the same place the next time you look for them. And the prices are rock bottom.

One of the nicer/​cleaner DRs I’ve been to… but still not a place I like to shop. I come here for the $ 5 off coupon I get when I spend $ 100… and that really isn’t much now that I think about it but… I just can’t stop! It’s also very convenient and open 24 hrs, and most of the little stores near me are not 24 hrs.
Service — the same people have been working here since I started shopping here — usually friendly, quick (there are gigantic lines when everyones off from work), helpful, the pharmacy staff is nice but slow.
Products — for some reason they are ALWAYS sold out of milk, which really irritates me. If they know they always sell out, why don’t they get more? I don’t know how this stuff works, maybe it’s not that easy: P Maybe I just go at the wrong times. They are also often sold out of bread. Okay selection of chips and cookies. I pretty much just come to DR for my unhealthy snacking. And shampoo. and the occasional birthday card. I should be supporting the smaller pharmacies/​groceries though!

Okay