Duane Reade to unveil unique offerings at 52nd and Broadway location

NEW YORK — Duane Reade is set to put its signature “New York Living Made Easy” vision on full display on Friday with the unveiling of its expanded store located at 1657 Broadway in New York.

The new 24-hour location, which opened Friday, will serve as an amplification of the retailer’s continued rebranding and aggressive transformation initiatives to date.

"Duane Reade will continue to be at the forefront of drug store innovation throughout the chain's repositioning efforts where it makes sense," stated Joe Magnacca, president of Duane Reade and president of daily living products and solutions for Walgreens. “Taking this former 3,100-sq.-ft. Duane Reade Express store [and] integrating strategic retail and neighborhood-centric niche elements — thereby transforming it into its current 20,000-sq.-ft. total health, beauty and daily living destination — clearly indicates what we feel the future of drug stores 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 eight varieties of frozen yogurt and four twists. There also will be various condiments, sauces and refrigerated toppings to choose from. The UpMarket "Fro-Yo" Bar yogurt is all-natural and produced by New York-based Ronnybrook Farms. An Upmarket "Freezee" station will also make a debut with rotating flavors of self-serve slushies.

Duane Reade's fresh-made daily products will introduce all new entrees in ultra-fresh packaging, and a Good & Delish oatmeal station will be introduced containing three self-serve flavors of fresh instant oatmeal daily.

Offerings, first introduced at the chain's 40 Wall St. flagship store, also will be integrated, including the Juice Market and a chef-manned sushi station featuring fresh sushi, sashimi and traditional sides.

"We are thrilled to provide this vibrant neighborhood with expanded 'ultra-fresh' food solutions for every meal of the day," added Paul Tiberio, SVP merchandising and chief marketing officer for Duane Reade. "Furthermore, this comprehensive store expansion has created [more than] 30 jobs, including assistant manager positions, making this particular remodel effort even more worthwhile."

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