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Duane Reade Wins Over Williamsburg With Beer
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 14, 2011
Modified Jan 14, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 14, 2011
Modified Jan 14, 2011
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Williamsburg's Duane Reade moved into their new spot on Bedford Avenue (located right across from mainstay King's Pharmacy) late last year, only to be met by angry young locals and their boycotting. So Duane Reade decided to take a few tips from that sleezy frat boy at the end of the bar, and get those locals nice and drunk. It won't be long before they're all waking up surrounded by Duane Reade-branded bags filled with Duane Readed-branded items and wondering what happened last night. Poor King's Pharmacy, always such a nice guy.
The NY Times takes a look at the bar that the chain opened inside their Bedford store, which specializes in hard to find beer; they hand out samples, and you can even have your growlers filled up. Mike Dunning, assistant manager, tells them, “We knew we would have a little bit of a battle to try to bring Duane Reade into this community, because they really don’t like a chain store. With each of our newer stores, we’re trying to find what works in our community." He notes that in the Bronx they carry Goya items, and in Harlem they have "40-foot-wide sections of African-American hair products."
Back in Williamsburg, they even made the bar look like a subway station. Because hipsters love when things that aren't subway stations look like subway stations? Duane Reade's VP of Marketing says, “It’s really a young hipster community so we thought [the bar] would work well." Will locals drink the KoolBeer-Aid? One 25-year-old thinks so, saying Kings may soon lose customers to the chain. Like a heartbroken boyfriend, Kings has "no comment" on the situation.
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bar
beer
brooklyn
duane reade
growlers
williamsburg
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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