Yet another Upper East Side Duane Reade is closing up shop, marking another casualty for the once-dominant New York City drugstore chain.
The store, located at 1231 Madison Avenue (on the corner of East 89th Street), recently hung up a sign on the automatic doors of its entrance reading, “Store closing permanently [on] March 19, 2025.”
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East Side Feed tried to contact both Walgreens’ corporate team and a district manager at this particular location; we’ll update the story if we hear back from either party.
The Madison Avenue closing marks the dwindling chain’s latest location to leave the UES, following the November closing of the store on 79th and Second Avenue. At the time, an employee of that store told East Side Feed that theft was the main reason they were closing, though a Walgreens executive has admitted (at least once) to overstating the impact shoplifting has on their decisions to keep stores running or not.
Still, New York has seen a huge reduction in drugstores, with the city reportedly losing half of them in just the last decade. Additionally, according to the New York Post, the number of Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS and Rite Aide stores diminished to a mere 395 locations across the five boroughs in 2024 alone.
The Upper East Side represents a microcosm of this trend. Since late 2022, the neighborhood has lost at least five drugstores (the other Duane Reade, two CVS stores, Rite Aid and Kings Pharmacy).
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Very sad to learn this. The Duane Reade on Third Avenue and (I believe) 90th Street closed a few years ago. For some of the seniors, it means a longer walk for prescriptions, shopping and carrying stuff home.
I wonder what the real reason is for why they can’t cover their rent?
Didn’t both Target and Trader Joe’s boozer pretend that was the reason they were closing?
Don’t they prefer a snug apothecary on upper Madison anyway?
Other than to fill prescriptions, why on Earth would anyone step foot in a Duane Reade? Enjoy spending double what you would to order the item online? The stores are unpleasant and half of the merchandise is locked up. And unlike CVS, they often lack self checkout options.
The throwbacks take another toll on the UES community but you get what you pay for in electing the city council members you do.
They’re also closing the store on 102nd and Madison Ave.
That’s where I saw two people sweep an entire shelf full of vitamins into a dufflebag and walk out. I told the cashier what was going on and he just shrugged.
If you don’t defend your store, you won’t keep it.