Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client, Duane Reade.

Duane Reade reached 1 million followers on Twitter and I helped them accomplish this milestone!

It’s just absolutely crazy I had any part of this fantastic fete. Why you ask? Well, the honest to goodness truth of what led me to Duane Reade in the first place is just going to make you roll your eyes, or bust out laughing.  If you know me, you’ll laugh, because you know food leads me to many of my destinations in life. Okay, here we go, it was these little bad boys that led me straight to Duane Reade on Long Island, and how I ended up helping Duane Reade reach 1 million Twitter followers!

The bad boys I’m referring to is not The Boy, but rather what he’s holding in his hands! I kid you not. It’s the only store on Long Island that sells Tyrrell’s chips, and I’m officially addicted to them. Perhaps I should write Tyrrell’s a little thank you note. They are the reason I’m now aware my favorite drug store is on Long Island, not just in New York City! I’m so beyond thrilled to be celebrating the fact that #DuaneReade reached 1 million followers on Twitter and I helped them accomplish this amazing milestone. Yup, me. True chizz. I’m Crazy in Love with Duane Reade. Don’t believe me? I made  video!

Sure my relationship with the Long Island Duane Reade all started because of my addiction to a specific kind of chip, but it’s grown into a full-blown addiction to the store. It doesn’t matter if I’m on Long Island, or in New York City. My preferred drug store of choice is always Duane Reade. Honestly, when in New York City, it has always been my favorite drug store, but I wasn’t even aware we had one on Long Island until I fell in love with those chips! It’s amazing how this world works, isn’t it?

Don’t think the only reason I love this store is because it has my favorite chips!

There’s a couple substantial reasons that keep me heading back to Duane Reade on a weekly basis!

• It’s also super clean, and organized. At least the ones I’ve been in, including the one in Penn Station.
• Every staff member I’ve ever come in contact with at any location I’ve frequented, has a true understanding of customer service, and the ever popular Return on Relationship, or #RonR we all know and love. For years I’d love the ones in New York City, and when I realized it was also on Long Island, and close to where I live – it thrilled me to no end.

I’m a New Yorker, born and raised

I spent my younger years splitting time between Long Island, and various parts of New York City. I consider myself lucky to be a New Yorker. Many people would do just about anything to get here, and I live here. I can hop a train and be in The City in just over an hour. When you ask people what they know about NYC, and some of the stores, I can guarantee you every last one of them has shopped in a Duane Reade store. I bet they even have a favorite one, like I do. In NYC, I always go to the Penn Station one for a water, and just to see the fun gals that work there.

Duane Reade is “the city” to me

I’m not the only one that thinks of Duane Reade when someone mentions heading to Manhattan. Heck, it’s shown in one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies, Sex in the City. It’s part of New York, and luckily they branched out and brought a part of our great city to Long Island. My kids and I are there frequently. I need my chip fix, my kids need to feed their obsession with sunglasses….

If you’re an avid reader of November Sunflower, you know I’m in tight with #CBias, and you’ll remember we hit Duane Reade for our Back-to-School shopping and donated to Operation Backpack – because we’re cool like that. You’ve seen our faces there, as well as my feet for my love affair with Hot Legs. I mean, heck yes it’s #Cool2LookHot gosh darn it! My toes are hairless and looking all kinds of HOT.

Blogging and Duane Reade go hand-in-hand for me

As a blogger, I love how they embrace my crazy antics, and tweets. They show me love, and it means the world to me to know one of my favorite stores, and brands, is excited to have me in their stores. We’re in #DuaneReade often, and the staff doesn’t even know I’m a writer. They just think I’m a nut with a camera, and an unhealthy appetite for Duane Reade…..which is fine, I’m cool with it.

Just a regular shopper at Duane Reade

Many of my trips to Duane Reade aren’t part of my blog. We’re in the store often. On our weekly trip to the store last weekend, my kids were playing around with the nail brushes, asking me what they were. I was trying to read a few box labels, and the woman working must have known I was about to yell at them. She just started chatting with the kids, explaining what the brushes were for. It led to the kids telling her about how they were riding around in their toy car all day, but had to wait for the battery to charge up again. She engaged with them, she didn’t blow them off, and she asked lots of questions, which got them talking more.

She saved me that day, and it’s just one of the many reasons my personal preference when having to shop at a drug store, even if I have to go a little further, is MY Duane Reade. Good customer service, amazing staff, and the cleanest store, too. When the boy decides to sit his butt down on their floor, I’m not running over to him to drag him onto his feet!

Our most recent trip led us to the Halloween goodies. Of course, Little Miss spotted orange lights for her room (it’s her favorite color, and Halloween always manages to have orange EVERYTHING in honor of the big holiday.)

Of course, she also found a lovely, glittery decoration that I totally vetoed. While The Boy had to get in on the action, too. Stuffed toys that said Halloween things. UGH. Sorry Duane Reade, I just couldn’t do it. All of it was vetoed.

Instead of crazy skeleton hands, and annoying toys that talk, I got me some chips, the orange lights for Little Miss, and to feed my SensatioNail obsession, I picked up yet another color for little old me!

It’s not a #DR1MM celebration without a new color for my toenails, right?!!!

We’re all excited that Duane Reade has hit 1 million followers on Twitter, but that’s not the only place to find them! There’s the DuaneReade website, of course. Plus, I’m following Duane Reade on Facebook, and of course, Duane Reade is on Pinterest, so I follow them there, too. They have the most amazing shots of Manhattan on their boards. They love New York City, and show it every day with gorgeous photos. It’s such a fantastic board on Pinterest.