Attack of the Chain Stores in Williamsburg
On Friday The Times looked at the tension arising in Williamsburg as chain stores move in. With CVS moving into The Edge, a Duane Reade already on the waterfront, and a Starbucks possibly moving onto Bedford, some residents aren’t too happy. “Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York, says one resident. (Really?) If anyplace is…
On Friday The Times looked at the tension arising in Williamsburg as chain stores move in. With CVS moving into The Edge, a Duane Reade already on the waterfront, and a Starbucks possibly moving onto Bedford, some residents aren’t too happy. “Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York, says one resident. (Really?) If anyplace is going to reject a chain store, it’s Williamsburg.” A Facebook group has also popped up called I’m Boycotting Duane Reade to Save Williamsburg. But another resident, a transplant from the Upper West Side, would love to see a Dunkin Donuts or Food Emporium make the move into the neighborhood. For some reason, she said of the naysayers, they don’t want corporate stores. They don’t want convenience. Demand for retail spaces are undoubtedly going up, with rising rents putting pressure on the mom and pops in the neighborhood. “It’s becoming the East Village,” says a resident, lamenting the loss of one bohemian neighborhood to the other.
Williamsburg Unhappily Graduates to Chain Store Territory [NY Times]
CVS is the best of the drugstore chains
CVS rules because they have those self check out machines.
I only avoid DR because their prices tend to be higher than Rite Aid and CVS. For me, it’s all about the price. I’m unemployed. Even when I am employed, I don’t see the need to pay a higher price for the same product. If DR can do something about their prices, then I’ll jump in their corner.
And yes, to hate on someone because of where they buy their goods is lame. Faux righteousness abounds.
I HATE Duane Reade. They put everything I need in the back on the second level. HATE that.
Walgreens is so much better.
Duane Reade is a real estate play. They’re on every corner, in the most inappropriate locations. Naturally, I do all my shopping there. So annoying.
Actually, I’m always surprised at the hatred people feel for DR, a true New York native – the original store was between Duane and Reade Sts. on Broadway. I much prefer them to interlopers like Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreen’s (unfortunately now their parent), etc.
Kind of like Connecticut Muffin, which has nothing to do with Connecticut beyond the name. Brooklyn bred and born.
MEHg Ryan
“Isn’t anyone gonna give Duane Reade some props for making this store very attractive to people with a predisposition to NOT like their store?â€
DR marketing squad must have watched the movie You’ve Got Mail too many times – “they’ll hate us at first, but then they’ll love us — with our cheap books and our cappuccino.†Baaah!!!
Well I am glad that isnt your sentiment; Since IMHO the whole concept is stupid and flawed.
Isn’t anyone gonna give Duane Reade some props for making this store very attractive to people with a predisposition to NOT like their store?
They KNEW there would be backlash opening up across the street from an independent drug store since the neighborhood is “so indie” (barf) – so they ask themselves “what do people in this neighborhood like?”
Answer?
Lots of beer, fresh food and free drugs.
Brilliant.