The Walgreens here was renovated and expanded into the space above the quick-serve restaurants on Fourth Avenue back in 2010... (this far-flung layout is what the headline meant by "oddly configured" ...)
Anyway, this is the latest Walgreens or Duane Reade to shutter... the Walgreens on Astor Place closed in August 2020 ... three neighborhood Duane Reade by Walgreens locations have closed in recent years. The outpost on Avenue D at Houston and First Avenue between 14th Street and 15th Street shuttered in November 2019 while the storefront on 10th Street and Third Avenue shut down in early March 2019.
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I wonder if this low building will be demolished now that Carlina Rivera has altered the zoning laws for this area via the "tech hub" airspace giveaway?
The Duane Reade/Walgreens and 2nd Street and Ave B is also "closed temporarily"
When the Walgreens on Astor Place and 3rd Ave. at 10th St. both closed, I wondered how long the Union Square one would last. After Walgreens absorbed Duane Reade & expanded like mushrooms, they seem to have now imploded. I'm saddened by the other businesses that were pushed out by their expansions & are now gone. Another example like the lamented Surprise!, killed by Basics Plus which after gutting the entire space then shrank to a dismal storefront. It's harder & harder to shop local as "local" has been driven out.
This wa ssupposed to happen sooner, bu the pandemic possibly slowed it down, I remember them not ordering product back in 2019. I asked if they were closing and the cashier said she couldnt say.
The Duane Reade at 2nd and B is definitely open.
Are any of the other pharmacy counters open 24 hours? This was the only 24 hour pharmacy around
The website for the DR on 2nd and B states that it is temporarily closed. Perhaps that message is outdated now.
Actually I think Surprise! was killed off by a combination of Amazon and Bed, Bath & Beyond, since that’s where NYU ships all of its incoming students via air-conditioned motor coaches with free TV and WiFi. Basics Plus whole business model was to charge 10-20% more than the competition, and look how that worked out. Bring back Azuma!
In any case, if you spent any quality time in this Walgreens on a Friday or Saturday night you would realize what a shitshow it had turned into. The shoplifting was rampant, and there was a homeless guy who would come in half a dozen times a night and trash the store, throwing merchandise on the floor and at the employees. What little security they had would just stand there and watch. You could also buy many of their products at 14th and 1st Avenue open air bazaar at a big discount. There’s a lady who can get you any kind of shampoo or toiletries you want for half price or less.
This is part of a bigger trend as these over-expanded chains realize they cannot compete with each other and with all the home delivery services, plus the organized shoplifting which is apparently now legal. So screw all the pharmacy customers who now have to scramble for their prescriptions, now that CVS and Walgreens are shutting down some of their pharmacy operations on weekends, and shortening store ours due to Covid, maybe it’s time to try the lady on 14th Street to get your prescriptions too.
As noted in the post, there's another one a block away, so this was always weird. I always assumed it was some artifact of the DR takeover back in the day.
Basics Plus is a local and very useful chain, so not sure it makes sense to compare it to Walgreen's.
@ Sarah My comparison of Surprise & Basics Plus was that of large chains taking over many storefronts & displacing thriving businesses. The Walgreens on 3rd & 10th St. did the same thing - pushed out a row of businesses to EXPAND. And then contract & finally disappear. Just as Basics Plus did on 3rd Ave (it will probably disappear soon). The Basics Plus on University Place also contracted into a walk-in storefront size.
The 3rd Ave Basics Plus inventory in its original configuration was mostly Surprise plus 50-200% price increase.
I'm still furious about the Duane Reade on 3rd Avenue that decided it needed to expand into my beloved East Village Cheese shop!!! Squeezed them out and into oblivion and now - boom, the DR itself closed. Bitches.
It is open never shut down
@11:37AM: I don't think Basics Plus EVER had the range of interesting stuff Surprise Surprise did.
IMO, BP is just a downsized Bed Bath & Beyond-let.
Related sort of - but the CVS on 3rd between 21 and 22 just posted a huge 'for lease' sign on their window. CVS had planned to close a fair number of stores nationwide so this is probably one of those stores - also this store is sorely in need of renovation too. This does leave a dearth of drug stores in this general area.
Co-sign on getting most Duane Reade items at half off from the 14th st open air bazaar
How about Avalon Chemists, Bloch Drugs, Whitney Chemists, Ansonia Drug, Grove Drug, Abacus Pharmacy, Thompson Chemists, and the many other independent pharmacies in the Village(s)? Walgreens, CVS, RiteAid etc are failing because they're "everything" stores, and people have become used to buying "everything" online. When Duane Reade first started opening branches (30 years ago there were two stores three blocks apart on lower Park Ave.), they undercut indy drug stores' prices and many of these family-owned businesses went under. Sound familiar? It's the Barnes & Noble model. And we know what happened to them.
Try you LOCAL drug store. It's great to have a pharmacist who knows you, where you don't have to stand in line, where the staff will go out of their way to help you. No, you probably can't buy a hibachi or a lawn chair there, but there are other locally owned stores for that.
@12:43PM By my count that makes the 5th or 6th chain drug store closure in that area in the past few years. Duane Reade alone closed 4 locations, and the giant Rite Aid in Kips Bay is closed now too. Giovanni is correct about the mayhem this can cause for anyone with prescriptions, especially for asthma or other chronic conditions. A relative of mine had to switch from a Duane Reade to a CVS and all of a sudden her $5 co-pay prescription covered by insurance cost $800 per month. The store demanded all kinds of extra paperwork and refused to honor her insurance, so she found another store that did, but it was a nightmare. Many times getting the right pharmacist is the key to getting your prescriptions filled the right way. My advice to everyone is don’t get old, and if you do, don’t depend on these chain pharmacies for your prescriptions if you don't have to.
I still think it's weird to compare something like Basics Plus, which has like eight (?) locations, all of them local, to something like Walgreens, which is a vast private-equity owned national chain. You don't have to love it (it's not like I'm in there constantly), but it's not the same phenomenon.
To me, the big problem with local drugstores is their (often) shorter hours. If you work long hours, it's hard to get there on time.
"Organized shoplifting" seems to be mostly a myth/moral panic. Random homeless guys are selling their loot to 1st & 14th, not to mysterious organized crime rings somehow assembling pallets of Pert Plus in ones and twos to sell on Amazon.
This may not be relevant but today I tried to buy a bottle of isopropyl alcohol at Walgreens. 16oz.for $3.39 when I could order it online to pick-up, buy one $1.19 get one 50 percent off. The catch is online you have to spend minimum $10. Needless to say, I'm now the proud owner of 12 bottles.
Rite_ Way Pharmacy on 1st Ave between 21st and 22nd street the owner is Sam and he is the nicest guy in the city. Only give my business to locals who love me back! He delivers! Been his customer since he opened!
I think it is amazing that just a few years ago it seemed everything was a bank or chain pharmacy, now they are folding like lawn chairs! (Thanks bjs!)
You don't know what you are talking about. I work at 14th and 4th Walgreens for 13 months. The shoplifting there was rampant. Thieves would just clear out whole sections and leave. One couple came twice and got $5000+
My favorite was the RiteAid on Astor Place. Then the stupid CVS moved in across the street so for awhile we had RiteAid, CVS, and KMart. Now only CVS left; I never go in; it's a horrible store.
I'd rather support the lady on 14th Street than support disgusting Walgreen's or CVS!!🤗
Yep.
I work at a high end grocery store on Union Square South and I can confirm that 'people' would empty whole shelves of product. Word was stuff was being sold in small neighborhood shops.
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