Duane Reade Announces a Major Store Augmentation: Unveils Its New Look 52nd & Broadway Location With Unique Store Offerings

NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --Duane Reade's seemingly ubiquitous New York City presence has added another notch in becoming a pillar in the City's natural aesthetic with its latest store effort. The chain's extensive expansion of its 1657 Broadway store will serve as an amplification of the retailer's continued re-branding and aggressive transformation initiatives to date. Duane Reade's signature "New York Living Made Easy" vision will be on full display at the new 24-hour location scheduled to open Friday, December 16th.

"Duane Reade will continue to be at the forefront of drugstore innovation throughout the chain's re-positioning efforts where it makes sense," said Joe Magnacca, President of Duane Reade and President of Daily Living Products and Solutions for Walgreens. By taking this former 3,100-square-foot Duane Reade Express store, integrating strategic retail and neighborhood-centric niche elements, thereby transforming it into its current 20,000-square-foot total health, beauty and daily living destination, clearly indicates what we feel the future of drugstores will be".

New store offerings will include the debut of the UpMarket "Fro-Yo" Bar. This food offering, never rolled-out before by Duane Reade, will feature 8-unique varieties of frozen yogurt and 4 twists. Traditional vanilla and chocolate flavors will also be available in non-fat options that contain sugar. The following flavors contain Stevia, are low-fat and sugar free:

• Original Tart, Blueberry Tart, Strawberry, Vanilla, Chocolate, Mango, Coffee and Peach

There will be various condiments to choose from: 8-dry toppings including tropical coconut flakes, M&M's, granola, almond slices, Oreo's and Fruity Pebbles; 4-sauces containing Ghirardelli dark/white chocolate, Ghirardelli caramel and Reese's peanut butter;  8-refrigerated toppings like fresh fruit, candy and cheesecake. The UpMarket "Fro-Yo" Bar yogurt is all-natural and produced by New York-based Ronnybrook Farms. All yogurts will contain probiotics and natural cultures. The retail price is set at $5.99 for a self-serve cup that allows customers to create their own custom formulations.

An Upmarket "Freezee" station will also make a debut with 4-handles containing rotating flavors of self-serve ice cold slushies. Duane Reade's fresh-made daily products will introduce all new entrees in revolutionary ultra-fresh packaging; a Good & Delish oatmeal station will be introduced containing 3-self-serve flavors of fresh instant oatmeal daily. Popular offerings, first introduced at the chain's 40 Wall ST flagship, will also be integrated including The Juice Market, where customers can create their own fresh juice or smoothie in addition to selecting from a plethora of menu items; an authentic chef-manned Sushi Station featuring fresh custom ordered sushi, sashimi and traditional sides including seaweed salad and shumi will be available. 

"We are thrilled to provide this vibrant neighborhood with expanded 'ultra-fresh' food solutions for every meal of the day," said Paul Tiberio, Senior Vice President of Merchandising & Chief Marketing Officer for Duane Reade." Furthermore, this comprehensive store expansion has created over 30 jobs, including assistant manager positions making this particular re-model effort even more worthwhile."

The Duane Reade pharmacy will be "Powered by Walgreens Pharmacy Network" linked to Walgreens pharmacy system, the largest pharmacy network in the U.S. New Yorkers, out-of-state residents and visitors now can have their Walgreens pharmacy information available at this Duane Reade location for a seamless patient experience that will also include prescription "ready" text messaging, free in-store language translation assistance and immunization services.

About Duane Reade

Founded in 1960, Duane Reade is the largest drug store chain in New York City. In keeping with company's brand vision of New York Living Made Easy, Duane Reade provides New Yorkers with prescriptions, health products and services, beauty products and services, food and convenience items for daily life in the City... everything for "How I Feel", "How I Look", and "What I Need Now".  The company operates 250+ stores throughout the metropolitan New York region. Duane Reade is part of the Walgreens family of companies, the nation's largest drugstore chain with more than 7, 780 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE Duane Reade