It’s time to have a little talk about Duane Reade.

For the longest time, something has been nagging me about the prices at Duane Reade. It’s almost like everything is more expensive than it should be, but not too expensive that you’ll really take the time to think about shopping somewhere else.

Then, a few months ago, after my local mom-and-pop pharmacy went out of business, I started shopping at the local Duane Reade, and I became more and more convinced I was being charged higher prices for products I could buy cheaper at the rival CVS literally one block away (Duane Reade, incidentally, is owned by Walgreens). I decided to do a test to see if I was nuts, or if Duane Reade is in fact more expensive than other New York City drugstores.

First, I chose nine typical drug store items at random for comparison:

Shampoo: Head & Shoulders 2-in-1 line – 14.02 oz container

Medicine: Tylenol Extra Strength Caplets – 100 pack

Toothpaste: Arm & Hammer AdvanceWhite – 6 oz

Toilet Paper: Scott 1000-sheet 4-roll pack

Laundry Detergent: Tide Original 1.47l bottle

Deodorant: Old Spice Red Zone 3.0 oz

Contact Solution: Opti-Free Replenish – 2 Pack

Cereal: Frosted Flakes – 15oz box

Candy: Snickers bar – standard size

For stores, I chose two Duane Reades in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area that had rival drug stores within a few blocks:

Duane Reade at 164 Kent Ave, compared with CVS at 27 North 6th Street (one block apart);

Duane Reade at 893 Manhattan Ave, compared with CVS at 859 Manhattan Ave (one block apart), and Rite Aid at 783 Manhattan Ave (3.5 blocks away)

I also included the Duane Reade at Bedford Ave just to see how it stacked up against the rest, though it has no immediate competition and prices would presumably be higher.

Finally, if a store was having a sale on any of the products (which they all did intermittently), I ignored the sale price in favor of the normal store price, since sales are obviously temporary and cannot be relied upon. Here’s how it all stacked up:

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $7.49

CVS: $6.29

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $7.49

CVS: $6.29

Rite Aid: $6.59

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $7.49

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $10.99

CVS: $9.99

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $10.99

CVS: $9.99

Rite Aid: $10.49

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $10.99

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $5.79

CVS: $4.99

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $5.29

Rite Aid: $5.29

CVS: $4.99

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $5.79

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $5.99

CVS: $4.69

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $5.99

CVS: $4.69

Rite Aid: $4.99

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $5.99

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $11.99

CVS: $10.49

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $11.99

CVS: $8.99

Rite Aid: $10.29

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $11.99

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $6.79

CVS: $5.79

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $6.49

CVS: $5.49

Rite Aid: $5.49

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $6.79

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $21.99

CVS: $18.99

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $21.99

CVS: $18.99

Rite Aid: $18.99

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $21.99

……

Kent Ave

CVS: $6.29

Duane Reade: $5.99

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $5.99

CVS: $5.99

Rite Aid: $5.29

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $5.99

……

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $1.39

CVS: $1.19

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $1.39

CVS: $1.19

Rite Aid: $1.15

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $1.39

……

And if you were to buy all nine products at each drug store?

GRAND TOTALS

Kent Ave

Duane Reade: $78.41

CVS: $68.71

Manhattan Ave

Duane Reade: $77.61

CVS: $66.61

Rite Aid: $68.57

Bedford Ave

Duane Reade: $78.49

In nearly every case, Duane Reade had the most expensive standard pricing.

Now let’s talk about sales. Duane Reade was also the drug store offering the most sales on the products above. But it was weird. Sometimes, the sale price beat the competition – the shampoo above was marked down to $5.49/bottle, for example, and deodorant marked down to $4.79.

But other times, the sale price was still more expensive than at competing stores – contact solution was “on sale” for $19.99, but that was still more expensive than the regular $18.99 price found literally everywhere else. Other times, they’d advertise something like toilet paper as a “Great Deal,” at a price ($5.99) that was nonetheless way higher than the competition.

Regardless, the with sales prices included in the final tally, the Duane Reade totals were still in the low $70 range – still more expensive, and that’s not even factoring in the sales at rival stores.

Final Conclusion

In short, it seems that Duane Reade charges the shit out of you at normal price, then uses occasional sales to give you the sense that you’re actually getting deals. Whereas rivals CVS and Rite Aid don’t have as many items on sale, but keep prices at a much lower every day standard, which ultimately seems to work out much better for the consumer.

Glad to know that I’m not completely nuts (well, besides the fact that I took the time to do this ridiculous study). Obviously, this was limited to just a few locations in Brooklyn – feel free to share your own experiences.

-SCOUT

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