Duane Reade

This is THE WORST pharmacy ever!!! It’s absolutely incomprehensible how the rude, sullen, slow, disinterested, hostile pharmacy cashiers keep their job. They clearly hate being there. This dissatisfaction is demonstrated by ignoring the customers, working as slow as possible, acting put upon to locate a prescription, barking at someone if they swipe the debit card too soon. I left and will never go back. Very unpleasant experience

They’re open ²⁴⁄₇ and have tons of snacks to sneak into the movie theater. Most of the stuff is downstairs, including the pharmacy, beers, and basically everything else. Staff is friendly enough.

Old style Duane Reade with probably the best customer service I’ve seen at any Duane Reade. Checkouts are fast and pleasant. Highly recommended!

Your typical Duane Reade, however this one does have the Brewery Bar; but I wish it was the fresh sushi one. They also have a HUGE make-​up section, a doctor for vaccines, a fresh pastries section, among the other things. There are two floors, it is always fully stocked, it’s very clean, and they are 24 hours — so 4 stars.
I do find it hard to find staff to help you here and when you do, a good number of them, make you feel as if they are doing you a favor by helping you versus it being part of their job. None-​the-​less I rarely need help when I’m going to a Duane Reade, so it doesn’t effect my rating for them too much.
P. S. They have a Chase ATM at the entrance.

They have a grocery food section with sandwiches and snacks. They have a huge, well lit cosmetic section. Lines moved quick.

This is your typical Duane Reade store. They have everything from cards, cleaning supplies, package foods, magazines, candy, and personal care supplies. I came here for an iPhone charger. They were all out in the bins up front so the woman behind the counter found one in the back for me. Thank you!

I was looking for the phone number of this pharmacy and landed here. I somehow never expected DR to be a reviewed store. Since my experience (ranging now almost 10 years, being my main pharmacy for that long) things have gotten much better recently, I thought I’d leave a note. DR is a necessity for me, so going elsewhere has not been an option. One medication that I use is never carried by independent pharmacies. For a few years, each time I needed to fill it/​refill it here, they’d tell me they’d have to order it for me. I wondered why, since I’d been a customer so long, not just add it to the monthly inventory/​order list? Well, not sure if it just got more popular or what but, for the last several months, its been available without needing to be ordered. No additional wait time. Great! I can also say that quite recently a new pharmacist began working there, and he has been very helpful and efficient. He also interacted with me a couple of times and I felt like I actually registered and not just for a nanosecond. You know, the opposite of the usual, where they barely look at you and couldn’t really care less what you want/​need. The cashiers range from good to not so good. I lost money when I was told my copay waiver coupon was no good, only to find out later that it was fine. That was only 2x over the course of the last year, and so I make sure not to accept that answer anymore. To be fair, that’s a common customer (dis)service tactic. Disown any responsibility, blame it on third party (software, hardware, whatever) and get rid of the problem, aka customer, asap.

Always running out of stock so annoying!

Way back in October, ugh, so sick. Walk across the street for a prescription I called in two days prior and for some cough syrup. Walk into 95° from 42°. SWEATING now! Walk down the the broken escalator to get my stuff down below. Check the ‘scrip counter and it’s empty — good news for a change.
Nice Asian man employee leads me to (way overpriced) selection of cough syrup. I pick one and proceed to counter for prescription. Is now six people long with A) non-​English speaker who doesn’t understand anything (!), B) Yuppie 20something who gets into protracted argument with staff about something inconsequential, C) four foot tall elderly woman who has to phone her doc to have everything sorted out, D) hipster guy who has $ 85 worth of merchandise and doesn’t want to go upstairs to the even LONGER and more complex lines and then finally, me.
I’m now sweating profusely in my heavy cotton sweater (I guess that’s why they call it a «sweater») and my Unilocal hoodie. 30+ minutes pass by and I’m finally at the counter. Give my name — no prescription. Cashier decides to go on break and passes me off to another. This next lady is one who’s usually there is wonderful and very nice. Very quick pharmacist (the great lady in the hijab) immediately fills the prescription as quickly as anyone ever could.
After 45 minutes though, I stagger, soaked with sweat out of this place with my ‘scrip and my cough syrup. Just another typical experience at DR on Broadway & 70. I would give 3 stars for the cough syrup guy, final counter lady and the terrific pharmacist, but man — their prices on everyday items make Food Emporium look like Pioneer!
Usual everyday DR experience for this one — 2 stars. And turn down the damned heat, will ‘ya!

This place is just gross — grimy, disorganized, oftentimes the aisles are over-​crowded with boxes meant for re-​stocking merchandise, it’s always hot & humid, and the people who work here aren’t ever very friendy at all… It’s like a trip back to grungy olé New York, but without any charm or character whatsoever.

Duane Reade, as a rule, has the worst staff ever. But I’m not sure why all the hate for this location, as it is really one of the better ones (again, not saying all that much). Also, they deliver my prescriptions for free. I like that.

I believe these employees take an IQ test to work for Duane Reade. The employees that get the lowest scores are immediately hired, possibly promoted to manager. Maybe they figure there would be less turnover to hire those whom are desperate and uneducated. I am not saying all DR workers are stupid, but the ones I have dealt with have baffled me.
If you ask a question, you will either get «I don’t know», or, «That’s not my department». The lines are very slow, and sometimes no one is behind the register. They tell you to form separate lines, but the system is so messed up, people opt for a single line, and clog up one long isle. The security guards are always mentioned on the news for tackling some guy stealing shampoo. I actually support that response, but be very careful not to even look like you are thinking about breaking the law. Duane’s law is the new Marshall Law, and the new Marshall in town is a college dropout with a square badge.

I still don’t understand why there are so many Duane Reade locations in Manhattan. I defy one person, just one, to tell me that Duane Reade is that good a store. Please, just one person.
When I was in here the other day, I needed to buy a pen. Just one stinking pen, but of course they only sell two packs and other multi-​packs. I picked one up, and it said it was $ 1.99. Good deal, right? Yes I thought so too.
I bring it up to the register and it rings up $ 3.49. Umm, excuse me, I tell the saleswoman, but it said that its $ 1.99. She says no, its scanning at $ 3.49 so its $ 3.49. So I had to get off line and take her downstairs to show her where I picked it up. She got another one, because there were a whole bunch of them there, and scanned it on another register. Still rang up as $ 3.49 so she called the manager over. Manager said that $ 3.49 is the correct price, the pens were just in the wrong place. THE WRONG PLACE??? There were at least 10 packs of these, minimum, hanging with the $ 1.99 price tag and you’re saying that they were all in the wrong place? Instead of offering it to me for $ 1.99, as a sign of goodwill, they still wanted to charge me $ 3.49. I just walked out, saying what a bunch of idiots they were.
Essentially, that is false advertising, isn’t it? If one pack was out of place, that I would understand. But a whole bunch of those packs in the wrong place?

They’ve recently enlarged: not sure if that’s good or not. Convenient, and now they sell more food.
Some of the staff is not too sharp.