They say you can find everything in NYC, but that’s not true. You know what you can’t find? The same scent of Caress body wash that your family in Theylivethurr, Texas uses. The one you fall in love with when you visit and then never get to experience again.
You call out its name in the middle of the night. Eventually, you forget if it smelled of water lilies or jasmine. But oh, how it moisturized!
This is the stuff of ballads.
There really is no one stop shop for NYC grocery shopping. I go to various stores to stock up on food and toiletries. It’s pretty ridiculous for one person, a woman who lives all alone, to make so many trips per week.
Last week, for example, I visited Whole Foods once for weekend picnic food and beverages. I went to Gourmet Garage twice to procure some organic snack obsessions. I considered going to Trader Joe’s, but the lines are too long. All this grocery shopping, and I don’t even cook!
I visited Duane Reade, the pharmacy you see on every other block in NYC, at least four times. Okay, I bought something there at least four times. Usually, a beverage or snack. Sometimes I go in on my lunch break, but don’t need anything. That, or the line snakes around the store anaconda-style. I will not wait in a line that usually connotes a sample sale or rush tickets to buy gum.
It’s probably not unusual to visit different grocery stores. I comparison shop to find the place where I can get my Larabars the cheapest. Also, only Gourmet Garage has the oatmeal raisin spice cookies that make my life more meaningful. Produce is better at West Side Market than anywhere else. I’m just lucky that there’s such an array of stores to choose from.
Unfortunately, this can’t be said for toiletries. I’m a Duane Reade girl with a $5 coupon a thousand times over. There are some things I don’t experiment with, like toothpaste or toilet paper. Body wash is a little different, but most NYC drugstores give you just a few choices. Sometimes you can stand near a stranger on the train and deduce, “Smells like pomegranate Softsoap… Is that an exfoliating bead in your beard, or are you just happy to see me?”
Scarcity is the norm, which makes it all the more maddening when something you love stops being carried. This was the case with Duane Reade and Queen Helene products.
I discovered the Mint Julep Masque way too late in life. For $3, what else makes your face feel so tingly, toned, and cool? (The gutter - get yo mind out from there). And it’s fun to slather on green stuff and make weird faces at your significant other or peeping neighbor. Try it!
Masques are one of my simple pleasures. Bottle something up with a low price point, tell me it has some benefit, and put it on a drugstore shelf. I’m a dermatological kamikaze with a knack for rubbing in small, but thorough, circular motions.
Imagine my horror when I could no longer find Queen Helene products at the four Duane Reade stores nearest me. I investigated buying them online and started rationing my dwindling tube. I even started checking out CVS and Rite Aid.
Eventually, I remembered this bargain drugstore on the Upper West Side where I sometimes shopped in my pre-masque days. I stopped by, and bingo! They had an army, err, monarchy, of Queen Helene products, including a tub of mint julep masque and this grape seed peeling masque I’d been coveting online.
Duane Reade, meanwhile, has restocked the space that used to hold My Favorite Masque Ever with expensive wrinkle creams.
Some drugstores just have no respect.
I LOVE Duane Reade - it’s like a combo of about 3 different English shops i reckon. I could spend hours perusing the aisles. I think lots of mini shops is the way forward though - if you try adn do one huge haul you end up over-buying. Boring, but true!
Ah, Duane Reade. I do miss it. That would be my 3 o’clock break from work, and it would typically involve a giant can of sugar free Red Bull, and baked Lays.
Here in London we have Boots, which can be fun, although I went into one recently that was like a Sephora in the front, and then a sad little Duane Reade in the back..so, Chanel lipstick as you walk in, but maybe three packets of tissues in the travel aisle and a half full cooler.
Ah, my New York. But you are right, those Trader Joe lines are insane.
you also can’t get a sonic drink … My Oklahoma throat craves. You can have your family mail you the caress bodywash. Maybe as a 4th of July gift!
I frequently make the pilgrimage to Jack’s 99 Cent store on Mad and 40th. I try to go weekly, each week bringing home treasures like a squirrel would with nuts.
KK, Jack’s is great. I go to the one on 32nd near the methadone clinics. Weird crowd, but some good deals. I prefer the stuff upstairs that’s a little pricier.
What’s a sonic drink, Mari? Is that a drink from the fast food place Sonic, or am I missing something? People from the Northeast are obsessed with the idea of Sonic.
I am a girl just like you - I love drugstore/pharmacy type places. However, we do not have any Duane Reade’s here and I am now wondering what I’m missing out on.
I love the Mint Julep Masque and I recently found Queen Helene’s Grape Seed Masque which i tried and loved too. The masques are only a few bucks and I picked up a coupon for their products at http://www.queenhelene.com/coupon.html. Enjoy!
Hey Amanda,
I live on the uws also and am in dire need of the mint julip masque! Can you tell me what drug store on the uws you found the copious amounts of Queen Helene products? It would be a huge help!
Thanks!
I live on the UWS and am desperately searching for Queen Helene’s stuff! Where is this magical store?