Over 5,000 artifacts dating back to the turn of the 19th century were recently found below 40 Fulton Street. DNAinfo reports that the items—which include bottles, gravy boats, dinner plates, and imported Chinese porcelain—were found when Con Ed was replacing a steam pipe from 1900. "We initially saw part of what appeared to be a wall," archeologist Alyssa Loorya said. "Then we realized the wall was continuing, and we started to see the artifacts." Archeologists are urged to visit a certain apartment in the Lower East Side, where they can examine a pathetic hot water heater that surely dates back to the 1700s. more ›

A Hasidic woman claims her Shabbat was ruined last week when she bit into a dime that somehow got buried in a pint of Häagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream she bought at the Williamsburg Duane Reade on Kent Avenue. more ›

Duane Reade is a New York City shop to its very foundation, founded in 1960 by brothers who opened three stores here, with a warehouse located between Duane and Reade streets. These days the chain has even branded their products as NYC-centric, with bar codes in the shape of city landmarks, trail mixes named after different neighborhoods, and Brooklyn beers on tap. So how is it that they've confused Chicago for New York City? And how upset should we actually get about this? more ›

Are you self-reliant or do you demand a more human touch? A study conducted by the Food Marketing Institute determined that customers are ditching the self-check-out machines at grocery stores in favor of flesh and blood. Only 16% of transactions were completed at the kiosks in 2010, down from 22% three years ago. "It's just more interactive," one shopper tells the AP, "You get someone who says hello; you get a person to talk to if there's a problem." While computers don't judge you when you stroll up with six cartons of Chubby Hubby and a case of Genesee, conversing with grocery store cashiers DOES count as human contact. more ›

—without any success. more ›

Ever since a "new look" Duane Reade opened up at West 72nd Street and Broadway, residents and local officials have complained about its extremely bright second floor LED screen. One woman said it was "almost like a strobe light... It went from a very serene environment to like being in a club. When I’m in bed, I can still see the flashes," and the Department of Buildings confirmed it was illegal. Now the drug store chain has decided to stop blinding residents and agreed to remove it. more ›

Last week, a new Duane Reade opened on the Upper West Side at West 72nd Street and Broadway. While it does offer a growler bar and seems much airier than the usual DR, residents were livid about the 24-hour store's bright billboard on the second floor. One neighbor described it to WCBS 2 "almost like a strobe light... It went from a very serene environment to like being in a club. When I’m in bed, I can still see the flashes." (Just like Kramer!) But there may be relief soon. more ›

Echoing the complaints of Williamsburg locals, residents of the Upper West Side are grumbling at the idea of another Duane Reade moving in to their posh corner of the city. According to the bloggers at (aptly named) MyUpperWest.com, a Duane Reade is moving in to luxury apartment development The Corner, located at Broadway and 72nd Street—which is "disappointing news." more ›

Sixteen employees at a Duane Reade warehouse in Queens are furious that the local pharmacy giant allegedly tried to videotape them in the bathroom. So naturally they've filed a $110 million lawsuit in Brooklyn Supreme Court. more ›

Williamsburg's Duane Reade moved into their new spot on Bedford Avenue (located right across from mainstay King's Pharmacy) late last year, only to be met by angry young locals and their boycotting. So Duane Reade decided to take a few tips from that sleezy frat boy at the end of the bar, and get those locals nice and drunk. It won't be long before they're all waking up surrounded by Duane Reade-branded bags filled with Duane Readed-branded items and wondering what happened last night. Poor King's Pharmacy, always such a nice guy. more ›

Question: If Blue Bottle Coffee became really successful and started setting up shop on every block of every major city and suburb, would the Williamsburg residents currently championing it turn their cold-hearted backs on it and procure their coffee elsewhere? Currently the creative young locals who took over the neighborhood are fighting change, which is being brought in with the new luxury condo-dwelling residents. Hipster enemy #1: Duane Reade, formerly a little store owned by three brothers, currently a chain that's been acquired by Walgreens. more ›

In case anyone doesn't get how cool neighborhoods in New York work, here's a primer. First, it's poor people, usually some group of immigrants. Then, it's the artists who move there for the cheap rents and the large, raw spaces in which to create edgy galleries. Then you have the young people who also need the cheap rents and who want to be near the artists. Finally you get the rich people moving into the newly sprouted condos to be near the cool people, who herald in the end of the trend. And today, the New York Times seems to have found the spokeswoman for that last wave. Get ready to hate, hipsters. more ›

The Battle for Williamsburg is going down, and the lines have been drawn... on Facebook. As with any great cause these days, a page has been created on the social networking site, titled: I'm Boycotting Duane Reade to Save Williamsburg. Sure, boycotting Duane Reade isn't going to save Williamsburg, unless you also burn down the Edge and blow up Sea on North 6th Street whilst boycotting it, but it is representative of the turmoil and change happening over there. more ›

Last we heard from former Knick John Starks, he was trying to woo LeBron James with sweet video real estate moves. Now it seems the 1994 NBA Finals star was getting his celebrity-endorsement on at a Union Square Duane Reade opening yesterday, when a drunk, amiable fan stole the show from him: "This guy filled his shirt with stuff and security caught him. While they were escorting him out, he was screaming, 'I just want John Starks' autograph!' " said a witness. The unfazed Starks continued to sign autographs, offering to babysit for a die-hard fan celebrating his birthday, which makes him sound a lot cooler than some other prominent celebrity endorsers. more ›

This new 24/7 Duane Reade that recently opened in Chelsea is off the chain. The two level store is, as their publicist so poetically puts it, "Duane Reade’s latest phase in its ongoing brand and customer experience transformation that brings to life the company’s brand mantra of 'New York Living Made Easy.'" And what ease awaits! You already knew about the Duane Reade sushi, but here you can also consume "locally-sourced" grocery items, fresh sandwiches, self-serve Starbucks coffee, single-serve entrees, baked goods, salads, produce, and, of course, many of the "DR Delish™ exclusive food and beverages brands" you've come to know and tolerate love. And if you need medical attention, they've gotcha covered, too! more ›

Last week, the Village Voice dispatched an intrepid, if not suicidal, reporter to test and review a sickening new dining option: Duane Reade brand sushi. Rebecca Marx's feature ran on a Friday, we dry-heaved all Saturday, but by Sunday were able to convince ourselves it was all just a dream. Until today, when the Post chimed in with semi-appalled commentary from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. We're just going to have to accept this: you can now pick up a yellowfin tuna roll, made by machines, with your toothpaste and adult undergarments, which you're probably going to need not long after consumption. more ›

Would you rather have a Walgreens or a Duane Reade on every block? Word is that the former is buying the latter for around $1.075 billion. While there aren't too many details yet (a press conference is being held today), the Duane Reade name will remain in place—so when the switch officially happens around August, you won't feel a thing. more ›

More information about yesterday's bloody shooting on E. 91st. Street: The victim was a 21-year-old Duane Reade employee who was walking with a male friend when her ex jumped out at them. The berserk 24-year-old began pistol-whipping his onetime love in the face, a witness told the NY Post. "This guy comes out of nowhere with a pistol in his hand and starts beating her with it," he said. "The guy she was with got into a scuffle with this other man, trying to get the gun out of his hand. The gunman breaks away, gets a few feet away and then fires two shots...I don't see any blood at first, but her head started leaking and she started crying and screaming." The woman, who was hit in the arm and in the head, is still in stable condition. Both she and her ex-boyfriend live in the Bronx. more ›

Williamsburg got a brand new shiny Duane Reade just a few months ago, currently up and running on Kent Avenue and North 5th. And now like Gremlins doused in water, the store is multiplying — Curbed notes that the neighborhood is getting another one on Bedford Avenue and North 3rd! This is dangerously close to Kings Pharmacy, which has been the area's go-to drugstore and still has a prescription filling time one hour faster than the chain... but can they survive the Duane Reade-ification of the neighborhood? more ›

Williamsburg Waterfront, you are growing up so fast! The area, drowned in luxury condos, will soon have its first chain store grand opening! Brownstoner recently spotted the shiny, new Duane Reade, "one of the three businesses signed up for retail space at Northside Piers on Kent Avenue, set to open on Saturday. Word of the ubiquitous drugstore chain's arrival on the Brooklyn waterfront first broke over a year ago; signage confirmed the news back in June." Their first space in the neighborhood is located at North 5th and Kent, a grueling 15 blocks from the closest Chase Bank. Meanwhile, just four blocks away is the current establishment hipsters get their Adderall refilled at, King's Pharmacy. Will their customers remain loyal? more ›

Duane Reade may be a soulless corporate chain, but its our corporate chain, forged right here in 1960 at a warehouse between its eponymous Tribeca streets. But despite (or because of?) its ubiquity—253 locations in NYC and counting—Duane Reade is deeply in debt, and last week its corporate parent, private-equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, shelled out $125 million to save Duane Reade from defaulting on its debt. more ›

Allegedly Duane Reade is getting a new look, and it looks like the natives are speaking out against the corporate chain. That's nothing new, but we still found one dissatisfied customer's sign makeover to be amusing. Do you have anything to add to their call for suggestions? Maybe they should go undercover like Starbucks. more ›

It sounds like one bad apple really spoiled the barrel at Duane Reade...to the tune of $240,000! City Room reports that the company today settled a lawsuit brought on by the federal Equal Employment Commission for "a pattern of sexual harassment and retaliation," but it sounds like it all stems from actions taking place at one Bronx location. The commission released a statement saying, “The store manager, Madiaw Diaw, frequently made vulgar remarks about women’s private parts, sexually propositioned female employees, made lewd comments about their pregnancies and bodies, assigned unfavorable job duties to pregnant employees and repeatedly grabbed female employees, including grabbing their buttocks." Duane Reade said that they will instill new training policies, possibly starting with the trick question, "Aren't pregnant women just the laziest?" All of this begs the question if this whole mess could have been avoided if the drug chain was a little more careful about stocking up on some of their OTC offerings. more ›

In the Wall Street Journal's article about expected post-holiday bankruptcy filings from retailers, ubiquitous NYC drug (and lots of other stuff) store Duane Reade might be on that list! "According to Standard & Poor's, nine U.S. retailers and restaurants, including off-price apparel chain Loehmann's Holdings Inc., drugstore operator Duane Reade Holdings Inc. and jeweler Finlay Enterprises Inc. are at significant risk of default, with junk-bond ratings of CCC, or 'very weak.'" But a DR spokesman told the WSJ the chain is "a vibrant and viable retail operation, and any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate." He also cited "positive trends" at 1+ year old stores, pointed to nearly $70 million in available credit and said there were "no liquidity issues." A 2005 New York magazine article had noted that in 2004, "the company’s profit margin hovered around 1 percent, about a third of what national chains take home," which is good for New York but nothing to copy. more ›

Ah, New Year's Day. The perfect time to sit down and make some changes in your life. Like maybe a change towards being a little less, you know, promiscuous. Or at least stocking up on Plan B when you know what kind of decisions you'll make after all that champagne. The above sign was spotted at a local Duane Reade sometime after the clock struck midnight and before the hangover started to subside. more ›