Walgreen's Buying Duane Reade

Yeah it was NYC company thru and thru 'til about 10 years ago when the new ownership turned it into a public company. Then it slowly turned into a NYC company in disguise.
Not many drug store chains left in this country.

Is there any indication that they would change the name and storefronts? That would probably be a waste of money and potentially harmful in terms of customer loyalty throughout the city.

Just saw the article - DR would keep its brand name post-sale. A good thing.

Don't know long it will last though. Walgreens is heavily based on direct import products.
CVS would have been a better fit operationally.
Time will tell if they let it operate seperately.

i read last year that DR was on a most-likely-to-fail list.

I hate Duane Reade - the floors in the stores are always dirty. I like CVS the best, but you know something, the Walgreens in times square where I work is actually very nice. I actually avoid the DR right across the st at all costs. The only good thing @ them is the Chase ATMs.

DRs used to stink ass, but I'm talking about the upgraded ones. They're, dare I say it, very cool. I know the one on e 61, and the one by penn station.

I have a cvs closer to me now, but wow is it crappy.

Yes, yes, all very interesting ... but how will this affect the future of Long Island City?

lol

alan, good one.

The answer, of course, is that it will have another big link to Chicago.

"i read last year that DR was on a most-likely-to-fail list."

Was on my most-likely-to-be-acquired list

They've got those new shopping bags...

JM, isn't that kind of the same thing?

duane reade is one of those places New Yorkers love to hate but don't dare take it away from them. I remember when my mother worked in what's now Tribeca (can you imagine a dairy wholesaler on Greenwich Street?) she would get amazing bargains at the original store at Duane and Reade in the late 60s-70s.

It frightens me that New York may not be America but we are getting closer. With DR basically a Walgreens brand what's next, Olive Garden and Applebee's in Union Square? (I know we have them on the island now but as long as they remain quarantined in the Time Square tourist area its not a threat to the city.)

The pharmacy at Walgreens is 1,000,000 X better. Online, different stores in different states - all the same. Order online, get it delivered while on vacation in Vegas. Drop off in LA, pick up in Chicago. No credit card with you? We have you on file, no worries.

Duane Read, one a block away is a separate pharmacy completely.

liz, i don't really care about walgreen's taking over duane reade as it currently exists. but i'd be very unhappy if bigelow in the village closed. they're the only ones i've found who can make prednisone tolerable for a toddler. i'm sure there are one or two others who can do so, but they are now few and far between.

Liz - hate to tell you but Olive Garden is also at 6th Avenue and 22nd. I couldn't believe it when I saw it there! Definitely a threat to the city. But then, so is Zales, the jewelry store of every mall in Americ, that is making inroads in Manhattan.

bigelow in the village closed the moment they ripped out the soda fountain / cownah.

Liz, I can't believe you referred to New York as "the island". That's what every mainlander who tries to sound hip, because he's learned that Manhattan is an isle, likes to throw in our face ... when we know perfectly well that "The Island" refers always to Lawn Guylin (and sometimes to Riker's for fun, or Statin when our doctors scold us about cholesterol.

But I'll forgive you "Time Square" because I love when it's spelled that way on Canal St. tourist tees.

--Alan :-)

Alan I can't believe you remember the soda fountain at Bigelow. My reward for accompanying my Mom on the Saturday morning shopping schlepp...the worlds best tuna salad sandwich and a chocolate milk shake. In fact I had my very first milk shake there--now there's a moment I wish I had back for my long term benefit. We also bought our first make up at Bigelow once we graduated from the stuff we could get (by payment or other means) at Lamston's.
Sorry for the faux pas...you are totally right and I need to make penance in some way to preserve my pristine native New Yorker status.

Liz, do you remember the lunch counter at the Woolworth's on 34th street, across form Macy's?

Some of you would have been against the invention of the wheel if you were alive then

Yes but it didn't hold a candle to Bigelow. Woolworth's was kind of sad, better to go down to 7th Ave and eat at the Automat.

MAV...No one is opposed to progress. I wouldn't want to be typing on a Smith Corona or its brethren for anything, or having six TV channels (13 didn't count) and about four radio stations constitute my media options. Its just that we also remember the way things were, the better to appreciate both the new and what came before.

Did you see DR new card? do you know what is new with this card? let me tell you - with the old card you used to get $5 back on every $100 you spend and with the new card you get $5 back for every $250 you spend. New and improved my _ss.

Prednisone Side-effects

Short-term side-effects, as with all glucocorticoids, include high blood glucose levels, especially in patients who already have diabetes mellitus or are on other medications that increase blood glucose (such as tacrolimus), and mineralocorticoid effects such as fluid retention (it is worth noting, however, that the mineralocorticoid effects of prednisone are very minor; this is why it is not used in the management of adrenal insufficiency unless a more potent mineralocorticoid is administered concomitantly).

Additional short-term side-effects include insomnia, euphoria, and, rarely, mania (particularly in those suffering from Bipolar I and II).

Long-term side-effects include Cushing's syndrome, truncal weight gain, osteoporosis, glaucoma, type II diabetes mellitus, and depression upon withdrawal.

yes, aptboy, prednisone is evil. which is why one tries so very, very hard to control asthma triggers. with a severe asthma attack a parent has no choice but to give their child prednisone. luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it), we were only obliged to treat with prednisone twice before we managed to get the asthma relatively under control. with further efforts we were actually able to avoid any ongoing steroidal treatments, inhaled, nasal or otherwise, although our doctor wanted us to start pulmicort we convinced him to let us try without it, and we were successful.

the amount of steroids being prescribed to children these days is unbelievable.

Apt_Boy is spot-on, and furthermore it's important to understand that Bigelow's cownah, and most of its shelving throughout the store, was like the most magnificent 19th-century carved and polished hardwood bar and backbar you've ever seen, I believe with matching original brass fittings (but that latter part might be wrong).

The lunch cownah at Woolsworth (all Woolsworth's, and I don't particularly remember the Herald Square one, or even its existence) was certainly charming in its America-dying way, though, and I miss them.

"With DR basically a Walgreens brand what's next, Olive Garden and Applebee's in Union Square? (I know we have them on the island now but as long as they remain quarantined in the Time Square tourist area its not a threat to the city.)"

Too late. There's an Olive Garden in Chelsea.

***

"i don't really care about walgreen's taking over duane reade as it currently exists. but i'd be very unhappy if bigelow in the village closed."

NO KIDDING.

They're one of the only "compounding" pharmacies in the entire city, and one of the last true independent apothecaries.

I've been to Walgreen's in Times Square. Despite its enormous size, there's hardly any selection! Just a whole lot of nothing special. Of course, that's what's becoming of America anyway ...

> Too late. There's an Olive Garden in Chelsea.

Adjacent to an outback steakhouse...

of course, we are talking about a tourist-happy area...

Well prednisone helped save my diabetic dad's life after a kidney transplant some 15 years ago, so to each there own. :)

"Plus, Duane Reade was a NYC company thru-and-thru. Even the name!"

You could not have said it any better.

truthskr, absolutely. but if you can avoid it, it's generally a good policy. i have a horrible allergic eye reaction to certain waterproof sun tan lotions that will not clear up without prednisone. thankfully, after two trips to the ER (funny how those beach trips happen on the weekends) i figured out what the allergen was.

" i have a horrible allergic eye reaction to certain waterproof sun tan lotions that will not clear up without prednisone."

Why are you slathering toxic chemicals on your skin in the first place?

because skin cancer runs in my family, i'm a redhead and i burn like a lobster.

i know, i'll just live in a bubble. no chemicals, no risks, no fun.

the stress that you suffer on the behalf of others, out of concern for how they are ruining their lives making all of these bad decisions, must be toxic for you. relax. it's good for your health.

"because skin cancer runs in my family, i'm a redhead and i burn like a lobster."

More cases of skin cancer are caused by sunscreens and sunblock than the sun itself.

matt, i'll be sure to tell my dermatologist she's been wrong.

matt said so.

Most dermatologists ARE wrong, sadly.

New bull tactic, avoid streeteasy because we have no argument and let the bears argue with each other about drug stores, politics, and sunscreen.

Come on guys, tighten up the lines...:)

Ok, but anyway Walgreens Pharmacy is a MILLION times better than Duane Reade. Chains are not automatically worse - as evidenced by the fact that so many hip, in the know Manhattanites go to Starbucks over local shops.

"so many hip, in the know Manhattanites go to Starbucks over local shops" ... how is that any evidence that Starbucks isn't worse?

Are you also saying that Zagat guides aren't the aggregated opinions of thousands of morons?

right, but we're not talking about picking presidents or something that SHOULD require a brain.

We're talking about people voting which one makes their tummies feel good.

You'd think, right?

Burger King is making a deal to serve Starbucks coffee to compete with Macspressos.
Soon everyone will be hip.

And no I wasn't kidding

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/2010/02/burger_king_in_classy_co-ventu.php

Charbroiled Charbucks?

2 all bean coffees, special size, cream, sugar, in a heat resistant cup

"JM, isn't that kind of the same thing?"

AR, ask the equity holders if it's the same thing

"Too late. There's an Olive Garden in Chelsea.

Adjacent to an outback steakhouse."

Mom! Dad! I went to NYC for the first time and guess where I ate! Outback!