Another Duane Reade Store Shuts Down on East Side
The scheduled closure of the Duane Reade Pharmacy at 465 2nd Ave in January is the latest in a string of drug store shutdowns in Manhattan this year. Shop lifting and consumers switching to online shopping are blamed for many of the closures.
Another drug store is closing in New York City. This time it’s the Duane Reade Pharmacy on 465 2nd Ave, near 29th St. which will be closing permanently on January 27, 2025. According to the sign just inside the front entrance, customers who rely on the location for their prescriptions can find them available at all Walgreens locations, including one eight minutes away at 401 Park Avenue South.
Shop lifting and consumer shifts to online shopping have been blamed for the demise of many drug store retailers in New York City. The Duane Reade on Second Ave. seemed to have its share of such problems in that realm.
One of the front doors is completely boarded up, suggesting glass was recently shattered. When Our Town visited the location, they witnessed a physical altercation between a woman who identified herself as the manager, and a man who then ran out of the store carrying a bundle of paper towels under each of his arms. The manager said “corporate” told her and her employees that they’re not allowed to talk about the store closing with the media. Calls to the parent company Walgreens had not been returned by presstime.
The Duane Reade Pharmacy on 465 2nd Ave is one of 1,200 Walgreens stores that are closing around the country, “with 500 of them expected to close by next year,” Pix11 reported in mid-October. According to the New York Post, at least six major pharmacies in the Upper East Side have closed over the past year. At the beginning of October, an employee at the Duane Reade at 1524 Second Avenue — which closed on Nov. 12th — told East Side Feed that shoplifters are “stealing more than we’re selling.”
Walgreens is not the only company that is closing its drug stores. CVS announced that 900 of its stores will be closed by the end of 2024; according to CNN, CVS also closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020, and announced plans to close an additional 900 stores in 2021. Rite Aid—which filed for bankruptcy last year—is also shutting down its locations, with 500 of its stores set to close.