First-time visitors to NYC sometimes ask the astute question, "Who's Duane Reade?" These pharmacies can be found on every corner and even wedged into Brutalist buildings.
There was never a good answer but it's moot since Walgreens bought the chain. Shortly after that happened (but not before), slick signs appeared in every Duane Reade plugging the chain as a "New York institution." (Walgreens is based in Chicago.)
Update: By word of mouth I learned that the company that became Duane Reade was founded near, and took its name from, a block bounded by Duane and Reade streets in what is now Tribeca.