While no one enjoys having to trek far to run errands, not having a pharmacy or drugstore nearby can be especially frustrating. After all, we count on them for everything from over-the-counter medicines to important prescriptions. But lately, some of the most well-known chains have begun to pare back their locations amid shifting shopping demands. The latest example is Rite Aid, which has announced it will be closing even more of its stores after recently filing for bankruptcy. Read on to see which locations will be affected.
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Besides the latest closures, there's a good chance you've noticed Rite Aid in the headlines a lot more recently. The drugstore chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey on Oct. 15 as it struggles with lagging sales and billions of dollars in debt, The New York Times reported.
The company is also facing over a thousand lawsuits at the local, state, and federal levels, alleging it illegally filled thousands of opioid painkiller prescriptions "that had obvious, and often multiple, red flags indicating misuse."
Still, some experts point out that the chain has been on somewhat of a decline for more than a decade. This includes a cratering of the company's market value from $13 billion in 1998 to less than $40 million on Oct. 13, The Times reported.
"The company has not been well managed for a very long time," David Silverman, a retail analyst at Fitch Ratings, told The Times. "They have been stuck in the perpetual inability to improve their fortune."
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As part of its plan to get back on its feet, Rite Aid has begun shrinking its retail footprint across the U.S. On Nov. 16, the company filed a court document that shows it now plans to close an additional 17 locations, The Daily Mail reports.
Many of the closures will affect stores in the Northeast. In Connecticut, a location in West Haven and another in North Branford will shutter. New Hampshire will also lose a location on Lafayette Road in Hampton. And New Jersey will lose a location with the closing of a Rite Aid in Haddonfield.
Further down the Eastern Seaboard, Rite Aid shoppers in Pennsylvania will have two fewer options when the chain closes its stores in New Britain and State College. Maryland will be down a location with a store closure in Ocean City. And Virginia will lose a pair of stores, with one location shuttering in North Dinwiddie and another closing down in Virginia Beach.
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But the changes aren't just limited to the East Coast. Ohio will see the most losses of any state on the list, with four closing stores in Dayton, Mount Gilead, Willowick, and Youngstown. And in the Midwest, Michigan will lose one store in Algonac and another in Troy, according to the court document.
Even further west, Idaho will be down a location when the 660 East Boise Avenue store closes up. And in Oregon, the town of Florence will soon say goodbye to its Rite Aid.
Best Life has reached out to Rite Aid for comment on the impending closures, and we will update this article with its response.
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The 17 stores mentioned in the court documents add to a snowballing list of closing locations for the drugstore chain. On Oct. 17, Rite Aid initially announced it would be closing 154 stores across 15 states, per NBC News. A spokesperson for the company previously confirmed to Best Life that some of the listed stores had already closed as of Oct. 18.
But in two separate court documents filed earlier this month, the drugstore and pharmacy chain revealed it would be shuttering even more locations, resulting in 39 additional store closures and bringing the total to 193 overall. Those changes will affect stores in nearly a dozen states, including California, Delaware, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
The latest announcement could also be building up to an even higher number of store closures for the company. Before filing for bankruptcy, Rite Aid reportedly floated the possibility of closing as many as 400 to 500 stores as it restructured, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"Like all retail businesses, we regularly review each of our locations to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers, communities, and overall business," a Rite Aid spokesperson previously told Best Life. "A decision to close a store is one we take very seriously and is based on a variety of factors, including business strategy, lease and rent considerations, local business conditions and viability, and store performance."
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