Duane Reade, Generator of Sadness

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Awl founder and poet of NYC malaise Alex Balk tries to capture exactly why Duane Reade is so depressing in a post pegged to today's beer story. Sample quote: "As you contemplate your purchases in that sickly light, boredom gives way to the heartsick realization that you are about to buy banal household items which—after a seemingly interminable wait at the one open register, where a clerk is scanning things at the rate of an item per minute—you will then cart them home to your tiny box, where you will use them, replace them, and eventually die." Also, "everything smells like cheap plastic and failure." [The Awl; Previously]