• Brandweek, Thursday, October 1, 2009 10:31 AM

Duane Reade, a 50-year-old pharmacy chain with 256 outlets in metropolitan New York, is expanding it offerings, adding private-label healthy foods and redesigning its stores to "spruce up its image." It's also playing up its New York roots -- the first store was at the corner of Duane and Reade streets in lower Manhattan -- with a new outdoor campaign: "Your City. Your Drugstore."

"New York is an amazing place to launch new ideas" such as its DR Delish line, acting CMO Joe Jackman tells Elaine Wong in this Q&A, saying that customers primarily yearn for "healthier, tastier products, and ones that are interesting and offer great value."

It did not pre-test the 25-item food line -- with "things like gluten-free, no trans fat, reduced calories, natural ingredients" -- in selected markets because "we believe that New Yorkers/our customers will vote with their pocketbooks," Jackman says. Hundreds more products will be rolled out before the holidays.

To date, the chain has either remodeled or completely rebuilt 30 of its stores -- expanding the aisles, installing new light fixtures and re-organizing to make the stores more "shopper-friendly."

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