Walgreens

Every time I come here I am always greeted. This Walgreens also has great deals that I haven’t found at other Walgreens in Manhattan. Shea Moisture is usually BOGO Free or 50% off. They close a little too earlier. If you want something that is 24hrs, then there is a Rite Aid across the street!

My favorite Walgreens only because they have parking. Have shopped at this location for over a decade. Prices have always been reasonable but now with riteaid across the street. I usually check both places and compare prices.

Pharmacy — 4 stars
The pharmacy is great for the most part. It doesn’t stay open for very long on weekends and major holidays, so be wary of that. If there’s a problem with your prescription, the pharmacists are almost always willing to help you resolve the issue, rather than leave you to figure it out on your own. The pharmacy manager is definitely the best; she’s very knowledgeable and offers great customer service. The wait time for picking up prescriptions is sometimes long, but I guess there isn’t much that can be done about that. I wish they had more chairs in the waiting area — as of now, there are only three.
Photo Shop — 5 stars
I haven’t patronized this Walgreens’s photo shop very much, so I can’t give a comprehensive review of it. I’ve mainly visited it for passport photos. In my experience, the wait time has always been minimal and the staff very helpful. No complaints. They offer personalized photo products, but I can’t attest to the quality or wait time of these products as I’ve never purchased them. It’s also stocked with a good amount of SD and miniSD cards, as well as some old-​fashioned Kodak disposable cameras (not sure if they offer to process the film from these cameras, though). I’m pretty sure they also sell digital cameras.
Beauty Department — 4 stars
They carry all the major pharmacy brands. They have a lot of L’Oreal, Maybelline, and Revlon makeup products; a good number of products from all the other brands (Milani, Rimmel, Wet n Wild, Sally Hansen); and some random cheap brands. They also carry a good selection of perfumes and colognes, but these are stored behind the register, so you have to ask to see them. They also do let you sample them, which is helpful. They also carry some beauty tools, grooming tools, and nail products. I had to knock off a star, however, for the annoying way that they stock their personal care products, which are in the same aisle as their beauty products. The deodorants are kept behind individual sliding plastic ‘doors’ that have to be slid all the way down to the end to get a product from the middle. The razors are kept behind a lock and you have to ring the customer service bell to get a person to come unlock it for you. You’ll find yourself pressing the bell multiple times before anyone comes to help you. When someone does finally come, it’ll be someone who appears to be very annoyed and who stands over you as you inspect the product. It’s just easier to get a nearby working employee to help you than to ring the bell. They claim these added safety measures are to prevent shoplifting, but they just make the shopping experience more difficult than it needs to be. Also, if shoplifting is such a big problem that they have to lock up their products, then what the hell is the security guard who stands at the front of the beauty aisle doing?
Customer Service — 3 stars
The customer service is hit-​or-​miss here. Some employees offer impeccable customer service, even running around the entire store just to find a product for you. Others give minimal effort to helping you, if they even give any effort at all. One thing I know for sure: if you want any product that’s locked up (razors, hair styling tools, special feminine hygiene products) FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don’t ring the bell. It takes forever for anyone to help you and the loudspeaker makes an annoying announcement every time you press it (which causes people to stare at you and be annoyed with you). Just find an employee who’s walking around or something. Or visit the Rite-​Aid across the street, which doesn’t have nearly as many items locked up.
Overall — 4 stars
The store is small, so it may not have everything you came for. If you use the Walgreens website’s ‘Find in Store’ feature, it’s not always accurate for this store (or for any Walgreens stores, really). Often times, I have looked up a product on the website, found it to be listed as ‘In Stock’ in this store, and visited the store just to find that they either are out of stock or never even carried it. The best stocked aisles are the dental hygiene aisle, the home cleaning aisle, the personal care aisle (probably because no one can reach the locked up products in this aisle), and the food aisle. They now have a rewards card, which is pretty useful. I recommend signing up for it. You don’t even have to carry it when you purchase things, you can just enter the phone number you signed up for the card with at the register and you’ll get the rewards. Customer service is alright, depending on the person who helps you. The lines sometimes get long, and they often open up a register in another department when this happens. They have good, sizable parking behind the building, so that’s a plus. Overall, it’s not a bad store, but not exceptional either.

After living in staten island I guess I’m use to certain customer service satisfaction., I am never satisfied with the pharmacy at this location. It seems as if they make there own rules and are uninterested in helping you… Customer service needs a big improvement!