[7] Duane Reade completed its initial public offering (IPO) on February 10, 1998, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DRD.

[9] Gary Charboneau, the company's senior vice president of sales and marketing since 1993, explained his store layout strategy in New York magazine in 2005.

On April 19, 2006, it was announced that after nearly five years, Duane Reade agreed to settle with Disabled In Action to make all of its stores ADA compliant.

According to the New York Daily News, Duane Reade estimated it would take two years to inspect and revamp its stores for wheelchair access.

It agreed to pay $200,000 in civil penalties, investigative costs, and fees and to comply with the state's laws and regulations but did not admit wrongdoing.

Its embattled CEO Anthony Cuti, along with former CFO William Tennant, were indicted on October 9, 2008, in Manhattan federal court for falsely reporting company income and conspiring to commit securities fraud from December 2000 to June 2005.

[19] Cuti had already been replaced in November 2005 by industry veteran Richard Dreiling, COO of Longs Drugs stores based in the San Francisco area.