Duane Reade

Staff are great. I witnessed one today handle an underage carding situation perfectly and professionally. Great job enforcing policy and the law.
Selection in the store could be better, but it is a small one. Convenience stores are only as convenient as your needs are.

This is by far the rudest, laziest and most incompetent pharmacy staff I’ve ever dealt with.

Don’t buy the Apt 5 umbrellas. DON’T do it.
It was pouring, so the logical thing for us to do was get umbrellas. I picked up a giant two person one (didn’t know it was a 2 person one until I paid and left the store). It was $ 16.99. Not a bad deal considering it was a huge ass umbrella. Anyway… after 25 – 30 minutes of using it, it straight up broke in half. Like the top half came flying off the bottom half when I went to open the thing and use it.
I figured out to fix it, and it was fine for awhile. Then it broke again. The cycle continued for awhile till I gave up and threw it out
Did I save the receipt? No. Should I have saved the receipt? YES.
Cuz that umbrella was not worth it, and a refund would have been awesome.
Service was okay. Just OK.
Note to self: Bring your own umbrella. Or get one of those tourist-​y «I LOVE NY» clear ones. They might last you a whole lot longer than brellas from Duane Reade.

This Duane Reade is extremley unprofessional The staff usually can be very pleasant but today there was a skinny african american girl who had the nastiest attitude i have encountered as a customer. She was working behind the register and just horrible and nasty!!! How she has a job and works with customers is beyond me! I have never left a negative review and was not planning on it ever but she crossed the line with her behavior! She is the reason why stores like this fail! Im disgusted!!!

This review was on there pharmacy. I went here one day on a Saturday. The pharmacist was there on the phone, I don’t know if he was talking to a customer or a friend. But I do know I was standing there for at least 10 to 15 minutes and he did not even acknowledge me. And I was standing right in front of him. Needless to say I won’t be going back here !
Another issue I have with this place is there is always a homeless guy at the door opening the door for customers; and the door space is very very small. So you barely can make it in without smelling him. I don’t understand why a business would allow a homeless man to stand by the door open the door for customers and beg them for money?

Avoid like the plague. This is THE worst Duane Reade in the city, hands down. And I’ve been to a lot of them because I travel for work.
–Stock is terrible. I went the other day and they had NO MILK. How do you not have milk?! Ice cream is hit or miss… they only carry about five flavors of Ben+Jerry’s.
–Employees are terrible. My beer is knocked over /​thrown on its side every time I buy beer, not gently leaned over like every other place. I am never talked to at check out. I’ve been there late when a line forms and there is one cashier. Three employees just shootin’ the shit will be near the front door and not come do the line
–The store is old and disgusting. I picked up a six pack one time and got a sticky residue that was all over the floor and aisle on my hand.
The one bright spot is the homeless man with an eye patch that opens the door for you while gently shaking his change cup.

Somehow, we always end up at a Duane Reade at least once during a visit to New York.
This one was okay. It was clean-​ish, and they had most of the items we were looking for. The biggest disappointment was the party decorations aisle. It wasn’t so much an aisle as a shelf, and the only decorations they had were candles and streamers. I don’t know if it’s ridiculous of me to expect more, but I did. Seeing the limited space and the even more limited selection was a bit of a letdown.
So we ended up only buying two items that we were able to find. The line at the register was a bit long, even with three cashiers, which was interesting. We got to the front, and she started to ring us up. I said, «Oh, we don’t need a bag, thank you», but she threw our items in a plastic bag, anyway!
I don’t know if that was a communication issue, or if she was truly ignoring me, but whatever. I guess it’s on me for trying to save the environment, one plastic bag at a time.

Hands down the worst pharmacy in all of NYC. I came here b/​c it was emergency and also b/​c its located across the street from my office. For all of my other prescriptions, I go to CVS on Lex&53^rd.
Seriously though, the worst. I kid you not. Read my reviews, I am generous when deserved and very detailed. I love the other Duane Reade’s (especially the new one on the corner of 52), but this one takes the cake. I’m still waiting on a refund because their «computers are down». It’s been 2 weeks. Also, they read the medication name out loud here, really loud so if anyone is waiting on line with you they know exactly what you are picking up. I believe this is covered under HIPAA and you can file a complaint.
Won’t be coming back.

The pharmacy staff is always helpful and surprisingly quick. (I read the previous reviews and either there has been a lot of turnover or they caught the someone on a bad day.) Seriously, I never review places like Duane Reade but the service and speed made a difference — to my day and one that would make me choose this location over the others close by.

They’re out of basic inventory way too often, and there’s a poor selection to begin with.

Duane Reades are like Starbucks. You always end up going there, even though they are nothing special, simply based on the fact that they are everywhere you look. I was in Midtown East and needed a prescription filled ASAP. I was going to be working in the area all day, so I didn’t have time to go to my usual Duane Reade on the Upper West Side. I figured it would be no problem to transfer my prescription information over, as I had done it before at other locations. Boy was I wrong!
First, I was met with confusion when I requested this service at the pharmacy. Then the woman at the counter requested that I look up the number to the other store MYSELF. «Um, excuse me, aren’t you affiliated stores? You don’t have a database where you can search for their number?» I asked. No, apparently they did not. So after 5 minutes of searching my slow Blackberry Internet for the number, I finally found it. She then tried to tell me that they had a new system, she mentioned something about Walgreens that I couldn’t understand. I looked around, confused as to what she meant, but saw Duane Reade signs everywhere. I said, «We are in a Duane Reade, right?» Yes we were. OK…
After much encouragement, I finally convinced the pharmacist to call my local branch (with the number I looked up) for the prescription info. She took down my insurance information and then asked if she could keep my card in her possession. I was confused yet again. Why this would be necessary when she had the information in front of her? No idea.
So anyway, the story wraps up with me returning an hour after the estimated pickup time. I was told that they «couldn’t fill my prescription because the refills ran out and I would have to ask my doctor for a new one.» To this I became upset and quickly left. Unfortunate options flooded my mind. I then decided to at least call my pharmacy first and make sure this information was correct. Not surprisingly, they said, «No, you have 10 refills left.»
So let’s get this straight… they are incompetent, have no knowledge of their own company or other branches in the city, provide rude and incomplete customer service… Oh and they LIE to their customers. Worst pharmacy ever? Yeah, I think so.

It appears somewhat clean,.however I saw a roach scurry under the Chase ATM.
The staff is rude! They carry on conversations during transactions, ignore people, don’t know where anything is, and when they do know they point and mumble, basically they are hiring the most incompetent people they can find.

Quick service. Small food section where I can get a parfait in the mañana, yet wouldn’t trust the sushi (call me judgmental)

If you asked yourself, «What did I do wrong?», after shopping in this Duane Reade, it’s completely understandable. The people who work here (stock, cashiers, pharmacy) all have major attitudes and are rabid.
No, you didn’t do anything wrong except for fall victim for shopping in this Duane Reade location. It may take therapy to get yourself to believe it because the service is so uniquely poor, but you can do it! Yes you can!
The city is big and there is a pharmacy on every corner. Start your Duane Reade 485 Lexington rehab now: treat yourself right and go to a different drug store.

I agree with Reviewer #1. The person at the counter (non-​Pharmacist) is clueless and slow. Normally, the Pharmacists seem to be on top of their game. However, I am so frustrated with that Pharmacy this week, I had to give them a bad review. It’s my third time in the Pharmacy this week and I still haven’t gotten my medication! Why do they bother asking you for your contact number if they aren’t going to call you if there’s an update or if the prescription that was in stock a couple days ago needs to be re-​ordered? I just wasted more of my time this morning only for them to tell me it’s not ordered yet.
This Pharmacy is also understaffed. There’s like one Pharmacist behind the counter and just one employee who doesn’t seem to understand what customers are asking. I’ve been to others where you see 2 or 3 pharmacists.
I may just switch to another Duane Reade (hopefully they are not all SLOW) or a CVS. This is ridiculous!

The people who work at the pharmacy have no idea what they’re doing.
About a month ago, I submitted a prescription to be refilled. It came back with some kind of message about DR «having to call the doctor to approve» the refill since it had expired. Fine. A week later, I got an email saying it was ready.
I came in 2 weeks later. They had no idea what I was talking about.
2 weeks after that I decided to spend my precious lunch break on a re-​do. I went in (in person) and tried to refill it. I got the same response and they asked to take my phone number to call me with any issues or when its done.
3 days go by and I finally call to see whats up.
They canceled the proscription refill because the doctor wants me to come in to see him first. «Why didn’t you call me,» I asked?
THEY HAD THE WRONG PHONE NUMBER.
Mind you, I’m registered online and GAVE THEM my number by writing it down myself — and still, nothing.
I’m going to opt for the CVS on 42^nd and 3^rd Ave next time.

messy, poorly stocked and extremely slow check out counters!
only be a customer if you urgently need something that you cannot get anywhere else.
pricing is also above average.
they would serve their purpose as a convenient store if only they can check you out faster!
not recommended period.