Results tagged “duanereade”

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With bottled water quickly becoming a fashion don't, it's high time for a new lifestyle accessory. Like canned oxygen, which is reportedly selling well at Duane Reade stores since arriving on shelves about three weeks ago. The leading brand is Instant Oxygen, which consists of 99% pure oxygen in a can (don't ask what comprises that other 1%). Owner Kevin DelGaudio tells WCBS that he got turned on to oxygen as a healthy way to stay awake and increase his energy, but Dr. Edward Eden says it's all just a placebo because, you know, there's free oxygen in the air. And "at $16 a can it's not worth it." Which is true; you can get a six pack of Instant Air online for $57, less than $10 a can!

While it's not as scary as a dozens of rats running around a fast food restaurant, seeing a rat at your local Duane Reade can be alarming. WABC 7's Eyewitness News thought so when they spotted a rat at the Broadway and West 94th Street location. The Health Department is on the way to investigate, but an employee reportedly told WABC 7 "the rat entered from the street when a customer opened the door."

Move over Starbucks! Move over Sleepy's! The newest addition to Greenpoint's Manhattan Avenue is...Duane Reade! The drug store joins two Rite-Aids, but at least Duane Reade can say that it's one of a kind in the neighborhood -- and the only drug store on that block of the street. What did the chain replace? A local pharmacy! At least they have signs in three languages.

Complaining about the proliferation of bank branches in New York City has almost become cliche, but City Planning officials are taking steps to enact zoning restrictions along 125th St. in Manhattan that would limit the number of bank branches on the main drag of Harlem. The idea is that bank branches can have a deadening effect on pedestrian use of a an area because they take up space that could be used for arts, entertainment, or retail purposes.

Has the Super-real estate market finally encountered economic kryptonite? Manhattan's housing market has seemed utterly impervious to any hint of real estate meltdown, even as other boroughs have suffered mortgage foreclosures at four times the national average. But one can't pass a Chase bank branch or a Duane Reade before coming across yet another building going up or being retro-fitted as luxury condos. The New York Times has an article today indicating that the gilded age of upper-crust real estate may be losing its luster.

As the ones who first reported on the mysterious tall bench on the median of East Houston Street, we feel some responsibility in bringing closure to the story. (fYI amNY: Link.) Contrary to some of the comments in our original post claiming that the bench was just an amateurish photoshop gag, it turns out the surreal furniture was real, quite real. And now it is quite gone.

There are plenty of Starbucks in Manhattan (over 170), but if you head over to Brooklyn -- you'll see the streets are mostly void of discarded Venti cups and hardly anyone has heard Josh Groban's new Christmas album. But things are about to change, chain-haters beware.A recent Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable meeting revealed that retail giants such as Starbucks, Duane Reade pharmacies and Chase Bank are planning to double and in some cases triple their...

Last week demolition was underway at the former CBGB. At the time Racked put their money on a Duane Reade taking over the space, but today The Post reports that John Varvados will be opening a chic boutique in the old punk rock palace. With his eye on a Spring opening, it's unclear how much of the 13,000 square feet will be taken over by the designer.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a triple shooting on East 21st St. and Caton Ave. in Brooklyn, a missing child on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, and a mass casualty incident at Castle Hill Ave. and the Cross Bronx Expressway.
• Many New Yorkers donned black this Thursday in solidarity with the Jena 6.
• Cops are looking for a man who applied for a job at the Duane Reade on 34th St. and 5th Ave., only to return to the store a few minutes later brandishing a silver-colored gun and demanding money.
• The Parks Dept. has officially ended the bid for a company to build a 26-acre water-park on Randall's Island.
• A 45-year-old bachelor is striving for independence from the bedroom in his parents' home, where he's organizing a campign for an independent Long Island Nation. He wants Brooklyn, Queens, and the rest of the island to break off not just from NYC, but to secede from the United States.
• A kayak and canoe ramp opened in the Idlewild Park Preserve on Jamaica Bay in Queens, but not all residents seemed that enthusiastic.
• Former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey was ordered by a judge to pay his ex-wife $2,500 a month in alimony.
• New York City and State have agreed on a set of safety protocols that will be enacted at the Deutsche Bank building in the next two to three weeks.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large fight on Fordham Rd. and Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, police activity in the employee parking lot at JFK Airport in Queens, and a pedestrian was struck on East 57th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan.
• Donald Trump owns almost 20% of Brooklyn's Starrett City that his dad bought for him when he graduated from business school. He now advises lower-income residents of the development that "This is not Communist China," in response to protests against a proposed sale and probable eviction.
• New York magazine's Daily Intelligencer points to the obvious conclusion of recent trends: two Duane Reade drug stores directly across the street from one another. What, no Chase banks nested inside?
• CSI: Egypt. The Brooklyn Museum catscanned a mummified body from Egypt and analysts determined that it died a completly normal and uneventful death.
• A former East Village drug kingpin is now busy getting West Village residents high on endorphins as a personal trainer.
• New York tap water may be proclaimed as the best by Mayor Bloomberg, but the city still pays $1 million annually for Poland Spring and other delivered water.
• The city is re-opening the bike-only lane on the north side of the Manhattan Bridge. Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn notes that it's been closed since October 2006.
• And a City Council member wants Councilman Dennis Gallagher, indicted on rape charges, to resign.

Incase anyone was wondering just how many Starbucks there actually are in Manhattan, the answer is 171. For some inexplicable reason (perhaps to become the next big viral video star), New Yorker Mark Malkoff decided to hit them all up in just one day.

The MTA has actually done something to make the community along the in-progress Second Avenue Subway happy. They have decided not to acquire two Food Emporiums for space and will instead design around them. The NY Sun reported after community opposition, a station entrance at 86th Street will be redesigned while a ventilation system at 63rd Street and Third will be repositioned.

With the mid-week Fourth of July holiday, an abbreviated work week practically demands an afternoon at the movies complete with giant tub o' fatty snacks and subzero air conditioning. New York is a real haven for movie theater aficionados, and we all have our favorites. Here's a brief breakdown of what to see, and where, this holiday. In the comments feel free to weigh in on the best and/or worst places to see giant alien vehicles attack earth or betrothed couples acting goofy.

Earlier this week, a man on Staten Island attempted to kidnap a second child in two weeks, sending police on a manhunt to find him. A Hispanic man, bald, around 40 to 50 years old and driving a white car, tried to use candy to lure a 10-year-old boy into his car on May 16 outside a Duane Reade; the boy ran home and told his parents. Then on Tuesday, he tried to grab a 14-year-old girl walking home from school, near Clove Road and Forest Avenue. She managed to get away, and helped the police develop a sketch of the would-be kidnapper.

Last year around this time, the Observer pitted Williamsburg hipsters and Park Slope yuppies against each other. This year, the Observer tackles the yearning some native New Yorkers have for when NYC was bad (sorta like Michael Jackson video Bad!). Summer of Sam, Needle Park, Ford telling the city to drop dead, all of it seems better than it is now. Here's what some people told the Observer:

- “I was flashed all the time—that’s how a true private all-girl kid learned about the male anatomy,” wrote Liz Alderman, 32, a television producer and former Brearley lass, in an e-mail.

Continue reading "Old Naughty NYC Vs. Current Boring, Safe NYC"

FILM: A tribute to Jean Genet on film begins tonight at BAM. The focus will be on films inspired by the French writer, as well as Genet's own Un Chant D'Amour. BAM describes the festival further:

• 90-floor hotel at the Javits Center? That'll be great for the West Side Stadium - oh, wait
• Huh: Kean University hires former NJ Governor James McGreevey to teach ethics, law and leadership - we sort of understand it because they're just paying him $17,500, but STILL
• He's ready: Suspected sexual attacker Peter Braunstein was found mentally fit to stand trial
• Former Montessori school headmistress Lina Sinha's 14 year sentence for seducing a student is one year more than the student's age at the time
• Biggest non-shock: Duane Reade being ranked #7 out of 7 pharmacy chains surveyed
• It's Brooklyn "zipper pin" designer versus the Gap; maybe she can complain about the Williamsburg jeans while she's at it
• 11 Spring Street is busy getting buffed
• The Department of Transportation may tear down or renovate the Kosciuszko Bridge because it has "narrow lanes, insufficient shoulders and limited sight distance"
• ...and in other DOT news, Streetsblog has the agency's plans for Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza - which makes you wonder why the DOT can't put them up on their site for the public to see (Streetsblog also looks at what the Grand Army Plaza Coalition's ideas are)

Once upon a time at the corner of West 63rd and Broadway, there was a 6,000 square foot stationery store called Lincoln Stationers, where you could find airmail envelopes, buy a snazzy pen and order your wedding invitations. But Lincoln Stationers closed last year and a Starbucks and Duane Reade rose in its place - exactly what the neighborhood was in desperate need of, because the only other Starbucks and Duane Reades are 4-5 blocks away!

Yesterday, Crain's reported that city pharmacy behemoth Duane Reade will take over leases of eight Gristede's locations in Manhattan. Each of the locations will converted into pharmacies, which would bring the total of Manhattan Duane Reade locations to 143.

Al's Grocery, by Dalton Rooney.

The NY Times looks at how Astoria's Steinway Street has evolved into a magnet for big chain. The accompanying graphic shows a one block stretch complete with Gap, GapKids, Starbucks, Bath & Body Works, and Victoria's Secret - and four banks, natch! According to the Real Estate Board of NY's retail committee chairwoman Robin Abrams, the shift is occurring because chains are have either "saturated" or are "priced out" of Manhattan, and they are finding the "can do business in the boroughs." And having a big chain as a tenant is probably less of a hassle than an unknown entity for outer-boroughs landlords (not to mention a reason for them to charge more).

Tired of your job and want to strike out and open up a coffeehouse, even though your friends think you're crazy? Jonathan Rubinstein and his successful Joe coffeehouses were profiled in the Jobs section of the Times, $14,000 espresso machine and all. Rubinstein prices his java similarly to Starbucks and his customers will wait for his beautifully brewed coffees and espressos (the image is from the Joe website). With three locations (Waverly Place, East 13th Street, Greene Street at the Alessi store) , Rubinstein, a former talent agent, hopes of expanding but...

Joe has stiff competition from Starbucks, which now has 170 cafes in Manhattan, as well as from a new crop of coffee connoisseurs who are trying to fulfill their own entrepreneurial urges. Mr. Rubinstein said he recently found an ideal location, also on East 13th Street, only to learn that another cafe was scheduled to open down the block.

Continue reading "The Not-Starbucks Niche"

Midtown Subway Monkey by |Shrued.