CVS Pharmacy — Local services in New York

I grew up in retail pharmacy. My parents owned a pharmacy for 35 years in Tappan, NY that they eventually sold to CVS in 2000. I have been using this pharmacy since I moved to West 86th street in 2001. Their recent renovation has made the whole store bright, clean and well organized. The new section mimics a well stocked 7-11 minus the hot items and is very competitively priced.

i have a soft spot for the pharmacy department since most of my childhood was spent in my dad's pharmacy section putting pills in bottles and taking scripts from customers. I am very impressed with the care and skill of the staff. Last week I needed a refill of my scripts and was two days from when my plan would give me a refill. The pharmacist did what my dad would have done. He gave me a few pills to make it until my refill was allowed. My dad's store was not 24 hours, but he would open th3 store in the middle of the night if someone needed a script was needed. This store is open 24 hours and I have had to go there many times very late at night and I have found the service to be just as cheerful as during the day.

The management and staff are well trained, very friendly and very helpful. I have never had a bad experience here except for the receipts that are taller than me! They might not be a mom and pop, but I have never felt that I was shopping at a...

I have never seen a pharmacy, or really any establishment of any kind, with worse customer service, especially their night pharmacist. If I ran that CVS, I would be concerned about having a pharmacist like him on staff who seems to take great pleasure in sending unhappy customers away without the prescription they came for. Consistently unpleasant to deal with over the 3 years that I've lived in this neighborhood. If you're thinking about using this pharmacy because it's open late, don't, because it might as well not be.

They also never answer the phone, especially at night. They could have saved me the time and aggravation, but tonight they're actually sending all calls directly to the prescriber voicemail box for some reason. My theory is that the night pharmacist prefers to be rude and unhelpful in person. For a kick, he probably even listens to voicemails left by people desperate for their medicine and confused about why they keep getting sent to a line that's supposed to be for doctors.

Folks up front are always pleasant though. Keep up the good work. And, unlike me, I'm sure they have the good sense to use a...

I think the economics of pharmacies must be totally upside down because this is among the best pharmacies/drug stores I've been into in ages and I'd rather have a colonoscopy than go back for any appreciable amount of time. Everything is behind plastic, the prescriptions are occasionally ready when they say they are, and God forbid I have to talk to any of the staff, all of whom act as though you've just interrupted their lunch break if you so much as make eye contact. I can say one truly positive thing about this particular circle of hell though: At least it isn't the Duane Reade on 79th. That's the kind of spot I reserve my one star reviews for. Great place to observe and really learn about the depths of corporate...