Duane Reade

At least this place is right next to a 7 – 11 (albeit small), it’s only saving grace!
Went into this location today to escape the rain and because it is conveniently located across the street from the 23^rd st N/​R train station.
Smelled like Vick’s vapor rub and they didn’t have the AMP energy drink I was looking for, mostly only nasty Red Bull.
Also, the people at the cashiers today were rude and slow, DESPITE the long and growing line.

This Duane Reade is poorly stocked, badly lit, doesn’t really have any of the essentials you expect at Duane Reade — it’s worth it to walk a little further to the one on 23^rd street between 6^th & 7^th. This location never has what I need.

This DR is the Mary Kate Olsen of Manhattan drugstores. Small, sallow and a little unhealthy looking. They had seltzer (You Got It, Dude!) but they didn’t have Neutrogena Men® Invigorating Face Wash (You’re In Big Trouble, Mister!).
How am I supposed to get my clean on, yo?
But the cashier guy was friendly… he not only smiled but made eye contact. That may be a first for any drugstore in the city!

I had a terrible experience in here and so it has tainted my opinion of DR and I will certainly never go back to this one at least. I had a coupon for a free pack of Stride gum that was emailed to me. I had to print it using their complicated exe that essentially made it impossible to print more than one copy of it. On the coupon it says that the store owner should accept it even though it is in black and white, etc. I brought it here and the kid behind the counter put it in but his system wanted to refund me 14 cents because the coupon had a value that was more than the gum pack (to make sure it covered the whole cost) and he didn’t know how to reconcile that. So he got the manager who was like, we don’t take online coupons, it’s a DR policy, blah blah blah. And I told him he can’t not take a manufacturer’s coupon and it says on it that they should accept it even though it’s printed from a website/​in black and white which essentially just means that Stride is acknowledging the weird format and that they will reimburse the seller. I mean, at least that’s what I thought. So after going back and forth he was like, I will take it but just know I am doing this at a loss, blah blah blah. And so I told him that is bullshit and he will be reimbursed by Stride and that the DR policy is illegal. Essentially I was just pissed off and I knew it was over a pack of gum which just made it worse! And it was before I had coffee/​got to work so it kind of messed up my mood for the morning. At least until I got my coffee.

This is a Duane Reade Express, so no pharmacy at this brand new location.
This is much more of a convenience store than anything else. Being new the staff were all super friendly even with my tiny purchase of a candy bar and a Sobe. We’ll see how long that lasts before they become jaded with the idiotic and/​or rude customers.
Nice thing about this is how close it is to the 23^rd St subway station and the bus stop right out front. Grab everything you need and jump underground or on your bus. Truly perfect for servicing the grab and go commuters.