Duane Reade — Local services in New York

I’m considering never stepping into this store again. It’s your typical overpriced Duane Reade pharmacy with decent options, it’s clean and it’s almost always stocked, so I’ve provided stars for that. What bothers me about this location in particular is that almost every time I come into this store I feel I am followed. Security and employees hover around me. The intercom system will go off indicating that that customer service is needed in a part of the store that I will be standing in (with no one near me), when in fact I haven’t pressed any button indicating that I need help yet, sometimes conveniently they just magically have the most minuscule of items to restock right next to me and hang out around me and say nothing (with the exception of employees that were already there stocking items); other times, out of the corner of my eye I consistently see security (which usually hangs out by the front of the story when I walk in) or an employee is walking around me or in an isle near me. This has happened a multitude of times, no matter the section of the store in, no matter if I’m dressed in a casual hoodie, “street wear” that may be deemed “suspicious” or dressed more professionally. The result of this is that is a barrage of employees come up to me repeatedly to ask if I need help or hang around me to the point where I feel uncomfortable. At this point I’d rather just go to the CVS on 125th street (which i would guess, statistically speaking experiences more theft because it’s more of an epicenter than broadway and 125th st is, but at least I don’t feel uncomfortable there), it’s becoming an unnecessarily uncomfortable experience to shop at this Duane Reade location.

Also, for extra ghetto points: A duane reade employee (a young man) came out and called a man a “bum” for allegedly stealing a Gatorade. While it’s wrong to steal and I don’t condone it, it certainly isn’t protocol to come out the store in your uniform and insult someone. Handle that internally. The man he confronted mentioned a possible knife and could’ve caused a bigger scene. (This just happened in front of me around the time I typed up this review, while I was standing in front of this Duane Reade.) (Edit: my original review had 2 stars but after witnessing this, it’s clearly also an issue of management, customer service and training of your employees at this location. I’ve taken off one star.)

A note to management: if you’re trying to prevent theft I completely understand because you are a business at the end of the day, but please find a less obvious and uncomfortable way to do so. Until then, I recommend the CVS on 125th and St. Nick as a better alternative. Not that it should matter but I am brown person with curly brown hair and I am not comfortable shopping here although I don’t commit theft. Please, train your employees to handle theft prevention better and also try to be less obvious with the unsolicited help using the...

After a terrible time trying to fill a prescription at the Duane Reade at 111th Street and Broadway, I went to this store. Jorge was working at the pharmacy and went out of his way to help me, getting a situation fixed that the other Duane Reade had made more difficult. This involved calling the other branch several times until they picked up, getting them to fix the issue on their end and then filling the prescription for me quickly since they were closing in 10 minutes. He was not just helpful, he was friendly, and never once made me feel as though I was a nuisance even though this situation created a lot of extra work for them and they were closing soon. He understood that we needed the medicine for that night and made every effort to make sure that happened. This is not the first time I went to this branch when another branch could not fill a prescription in a timely manner. Once I got caught in a storm going there and a different pharmacist even gave me paper towels to dry off when she saw how soaked I was. I am not sure about the rest of the store but the pharmacy and the staff at this store are really great. Thank you Jorge for...

Staff is very unprofessional which seems to be normalized at this Duane Reade. I mean given its neighborhood seemed pretty common. Visited this location to simply buy some shampoo while the employee who in an establishment (wore a ski mask) super concerning by the way. He proceeds and opens the lock of the shampoos, and disgustingly just as his looks, demeanor, clothing, posture, hair and all of the above… starts attacking me verbally he then proceeded by slamming inventory. Which by the way, created a dangerous environment for not only me yet the people in these establishment. When asked for a manager, it seemed like the manager didn’t want to handle the situation, not sure if he was a shift manager. As a manager who has managed multiple stores before I believe others can have bad days as well which is possibly what the poor representative was going through, yet it is...