Duane Reade
Where did these stores get their name?
This is a chain of drugstores in New York City. They’re a competitor to Walgreens and CVS.
They were so-named because their original store was between Duane and Reade Streets in Lower Manhattan. Those two streets are named for American politicians, not related to the business.
Why I Looked It Up
I had known of the chain of drugstores.
However, while walking back to my hotel one night in NYC, I saw street signs for Duane and Reade Streets right next to each other. I figured they had to have something to do with the business – it was perhaps the full name of a person (“Duane Reade”), and the stores were named for that person?
Not so. The streets are not related, and the business just took its name from the two streets collectively. It could have just as easily been “Reade Duane.”