Kingsbridge residents who depend on the Duane Reade at 1 E. Kingsbridge Rd. to fill their prescriptions, purchase greeting cards, or buy their cosmetics will now have to find another store. Walgreens, the parent company, closed the store on Tuesday night.

According to multiple signs on the storefront windows, pharmacy customers will have their prescriptions automatically filled at the next closest Duane Reade at 58 E. Fordham Rd., about a half mile south.

The now-closed store sits at a prime location on the northeast corner of East Kingsbridge Road and Jerome Avenue.  The Kingsbridge number 4 train station is just steps away from the front door.  Several bus lines travel along both thoroughfares and the D train is three blocks to the east.

On Tuesday afternoon, Oswald Feliz, state committeeman for the 78th assembly district, thought about a good location to collect signatures for his re-election, he chose to work the corner in front of Duane Reade.  On a damp and misty afternoon, he expressed surprise at the news of the store’s closing.

“I was actually not aware of the Duane Reade closing until now,” Feliz said.  “I’m not only shocked but also saddened. I’ve lived here my entire life, and I know a lot of residents rely on this local store.”

New Yorkers have been shopping at Duane Reade since 1960 when brothers Abraham, Eli, and Jack Cohen opened a warehouse in downtown Manhattan on Broadway between Duane and Reade streets.  In 1998, the company went public and raised $102 million as it bought stores from Love’s, Value Drug, and Rock Bottom. It grew from 59 to 249 stores making it the most populous drugstore chain in the city.

In 2010, rival drugstore Walgreens bought Duane Reade for $1.1 billion.

By December 2018, the corporate leadership announced a plan to cut costs by $1 billion.  At the end of last year Walgreens announced a new goal of $1.8 billion in cuts by 2022.

For Ashley Rosa, 24, a local resident, Duane Reade was a convenient place to buy more than just prescription drugs.  “I used to come here for my prescriptions, but [now] I come here for my cosmetics … shampoo, conditioner, and certain lotions,” Rosa said.  “I don’t know any reason behind it [the closing] either.  It sucks.”

In a written response to the Norwood News, Alexandra Brown, corporate media relations spokesperson for parent company Walgreen, said “the decision to close it was not easy.”  Although she did not share any details specific to the Kingsbridge store, she wanted to reassure the workers that the company was not abandoning them.

“We expect to place the majority of that store’s employees in jobs at other area stores.  We will continue to be the strong community supporter the Bronx has known us to be,” said Brown.

Although local residents are not expressing any sympathy for big losses in the corporate structure, they are mad at the company for closing a store with such a convenient location.

Mazina, who did not want her last name published, found out about the store closing “about two or three weeks ago.”  And even though she does not live in the area, she finds it convenient to shop there as she travels to and back from the city.  “I’m really sad that it is closing because it is a neighborhood staple,” Mazina said.

Nationwide, the Walgreens Company plans to close approximately 200 stores.  “Given that these closures will represent less than three percent of our stores overall and given that we have multiple locations in many markets, we anticipate minimal disruption to customers and patients,” Brown added.

For Rosa, the store closure came suddenly.  She did not have a backup plan at the moment.  “I guess I have to travel somewhere else or find a local pharmacy that’s going to charge me a [expletive] arm and a leg, to be honest,” said Rosa.