I want in on the joke! what exactly is so wrong about this place. Is it like walgreens here in Chicago? Meaning, a little dirty mixed with way overpriced stuff?

Duane Reade
Your discontentment. Our Objective.

duanereade.com/newlook/samesuck

I don't know if I condone the defacement of a store sign. I know it's meant to be funny but I think their might have been better, more mature and less destructive ways to voice your opinion.

@Chongo: Basically yes. The main problem is as much as we like to complain about DR, their competitors in NYC, i.e. Rite Aid and Walgreens, are even worse.

if you knew duane reade, you'd be more sympathetic!

@FDCPAGuy: Less destructive methods than messing up a SHEET OF PAPER?

Please. Unclench.

Sorry, there's just as much suck in that joke.

@Chongo: Having lived in both places, Walgreens is a pleasure compared to Duane Reade.

Actually Duane Reade has new management, is aware how much they sucked and is trying to turn things around.

(no I don't work for them, just seems kind unfair to criticize them when they're trying to fix things)

@Radi0logy: Doesn't make it any less immature or destructive (though I still got a chucke out of it). The store's property is the store's property. As usual, it's apparently okay to mess up the store's stuff, but when the store messes up a customer's stuff, there is mass hysteria and outrage around here.

@twophrasebark:

Consumerist doesn't care about fair. They care about passing judgment, being snarky, and allowing the commenters to lambaste companies who not only are 'taking things seriously' but trying to change for the better.

Ok somebody in manhattan whose been to the one on the corner of 57th and 6th: is that considered sucky? Dirty? Awful?

I ask because we were there a few times in May and it seemed perfect - good selection, clean and friendly staff. If that place wasn't classy enough then don't visit Shoppers Drug Mart when you visit Canada because you will not be pleased.

I know it sounds crazy to say this on the Consumerist blog, but this company said they were going to improve their stores... and I noticed their stores have been improving. The redesigned stores are nice. And they said their service would get better and it is somewhat better.

I give them credit.

LOL... Was this written by the same guy who crosses out letters on the hot-air dryers so it reads "Press butt ... rub hands under arm" ?? I always get a kick out of that!

I've only been to a few Duane Reed's, and those visits happened before they started "taking things seriously", but their stores always seemed crappy to me. I'll take Walmart and CVS (we don't have Rite Aid where I live) over them any day of the week.

@FDCPAGuy: You do realize we didn't mark up the sign, right?

I've never had any problem with DR; their reward program is nice, too.

@Chongo: Bingo. And it would be nice if they improved their selection of drug store items. There's limited space, since they're in NYC, but they could do it if they got rid of some of their many shelves of junk food.

@Meg Marco:

Yes Meg I realize that surely next time I will pop in a sarcasm tag for you. Still sometimes the snarky commentary on stories turns me off. I also know you didn't kill those rabbits, DDoS your own site, nor tell that Comcast installer to save that person from drowning ;)

@Chongo: you can't really compare duane reade to a drug store. you need to think about it more like a convenience store. like the worst convenience store you've ever been in. now picture a drug store counter at that convenience store staffed by an individual who works as a debt collector simply for the lulz when they're not dispensing you meds.

THAT'S duane reade.

@Julius Seizure. (the CANUCK one): Aw, I love ol' Shoppers! I try to get in a visit whenever I pop over the border to Windsor, Sarnia, or Toronto from here in metro Detroit.

From what I saw, their new store layout is an improvement. But
I still find that Duane Reade sells many items at a consistently more expensive price than their competitors (at least for the items I'm looking for anyway).

In the meantime, the three Duane Reades in my neighborhood: dirty and staff helpfulness is nothing to brag about.

@FDCPAGuy: Well frankly, we consumers have had it up to our necks with bad service. I refuse to shed any tears for companies that treat their customers like cattle. They let them eat static!

@tbax929: Wow, they must really suck if CVS is an improvement.

Don't mind me, but if the choice were getting life-saving medication for free from CVS or death, I think death looks like a good option.

Like this?

Many, many years ago (think 1970's), there were lots of independent drug stores in New York City. Yes, some were expensive; but outside the Rx dept., they all carried DIFFERENT merchandise and different brands.

Then DR moved in. On every second or third corner, they opened a store. Good merchandising; low prices. One by one, the local stores closed. Then, DR started raising its prices and reducing the variety it carried. Finally, we were stuck with DR stores and their high prices and limited selection. Some of the stores were really dirty and shopworn.

Now we are getting Walgreens and other chains. The pressure is on DR to clean up its act and its pricing.

Competition works.

Just my opinion as a New Yorker.

@supercereal: Of course. One of them is sticking it to THE MAN, the other is THE MAN sticking it to you!

In all seriousness though it's defacing a sign, not throwing a newspaper box through the window of a Starbucks.

@Chongo:
Additionally, DR is staffed with incompetent, unfriendly, unhelpful people for the most part. The lines are very long, the check-out people speak to each other and rarely even look at the customer. In the store near me, I have heard the pharmacist make cracks about customers to co-workers on more than one occasion. Things like, "yeah, that crazy so an so needs those anti depressants quick!". I once saw a mouse amongst the potato chips and told the security guard who said to me, "It is not my problem". That's DR for you.

I went to a few Duane Reades (Honestly, it might have been the same one, but they all look so similar) when I was in NYC last year on vacation. I had no problems with them and they look better than most drug/convenience stores I've been in.

@Julius Seizure. (the CANUCK one): I went to that same one when I was in NYC last year. It seemed pretty clean to me.

@JuneCarter: I never understand how the DR nearest my apartment ALWAYS has a line of at least 5 people. Without fail.

@maxx22: DR is the Starbucks of convenience stores.

I miss Wawa :(

@maxx22: My issue with DR is their over saturation of an area. I work downtown (FiDi) and I have a DR 1 block north on William, 1 block east on John, 2 blocks west on John, 3 blocks south on Maiden Lane, 4 blocks south on Wall and 3 blocks North West on Fulton. 6 Duane Reades all within 5 minutes (not even) walking distance from each other! I get that alot of people work down here but really? Do we really need that many? I am not even including the ones on Water street and by the seaport. And their prices are all outrageously high.

Now in my old neighborhood of Prospect Heights Brooklyn, we only had one Duane Reade and you had to walk to Flatbush and 7th Avenue. They can flood lower Manhattan but they can't bring another store to areas that might actually need it? I cant tell you how hard it was to be on crutches after knee surgery and have to take a cab just to get my pain meds or anything else I needed but I could step outside my office downtown, spit in any direction and hit a DR.

@Hirayuki: Sorry - day's late but... I wasn't slagging shoppers - it's expensive but consistently clean and the customer service is fine. This is how I found the 2 or 3 DR's I visited in Manhattan.

I was just curious is this is what is generally considered bad and I'd missed the Nirvana of drug stores while I was there.