Posted on 10/05/2025 4:40:02 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Rite Aid closed its final stores after a second bankruptcy, shrinking from 2,100 locations to fewer than 100 and raising pharmacy access concerns.
Once one of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains, Rite Aid closed its final locations Friday, marking the end of a failed comeback attempt.
The company emerged from bankruptcy in September 2024 after shuttering hundreds of stores, but less than a year later, it filed for bankruptcy again. In May, Rite Aid said it had secured $2 billion in financing as it sought a buyer to keep some locations open.
Later that month, the company sold its pharmacy services to several competitors — including Walgreens, CVS, Kroger and Albertsons. Those pharmacies now hold customers’ prescription records and are handling refills.
RELATED STORY | Rite Aid’s 'comeback story' cut short as pharmacy chain files for bankruptcy again
A limited number of Rite Aid locations will remain open under a new name.
Rite Aid’s footprint fell from 2,100 stores several years ago to 1,300 earlier this year. By this week, it was down to fewer than 100.
Additional closures could worsen access to prescriptions in some areas. A 2024 Ohio State University study found that 46 percent of U.S. counties were “pharmacy deserts.”
“Poor access to pharmacies is often associated with lower medication adherence,” the study said. “Patients in socially vulnerable communities may lack the means to travel to other pharmacies or may have limited access to broadband internet to find telepharmacy options. Furthermore, pharmacies often offer diagnostic, preventive and emergency services. As high pharmacy desert density counties also have a lower primary care density, patients in these regions face increased barriers to accessing primary health care needs.”
(Excerpt) Read more at scrippsnews.com ...
humm, too bad. i wonder what really happened to them? especially since big pharma has been making money hand over fist for many years.
A Rite Aid subsidiary in my area - Bartell’s - closed last year. A few weeks ago, the Rite Aid near me closed. You could see it coming - for the last two or three years, there were many empty and understocked shelves. I wonder if Walgreen’s is next - it also has many empty and understocked shelves.
What happened - massive and systematic fraud of Govt programs.
Surprised company officials didn’t get jail time./
ah. big fines for drug fraud?
i think CVS got in some trouble for that too.
humm, too bad. i wonder what really happened to them? especially since big pharma has been making money hand over fist for many years.
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Had one around the corner a few blocks away.
Section 8 apartments across the street from them.
Had a food market next door to Rite Aid. They also closed.
Same Section 8 apartments again.
Food market manage said he was waiting on the “shut down” order and he would be down and gone within a week. He wasn’t allowed to do anything about the theft.
Next food source was two miles away.
Henderson Nevada. Glad I got out.
““Poor access to pharmacies is often associated with lower medication adherence,” the study said. “Patients in socially vulnerable communities may lack the means to travel to other pharmacies or may have limited access to broadband internet to find telepharmacy options. Furthermore, pharmacies often offer diagnostic, preventive and emergency services. As high pharmacy desert density counties also have a lower primary care density, patients in these regions face increased barriers to accessing primary health care needs.”
This is a perfect 14th Amendment case.
A lack of law enforcement denies these folks equal protection under the law.
A responsible DOJ would take this up in the Civil Rights Division.
One factor is lawsuits re opiate prescriptions.
They were chasing Walgreens by deliberately buying and building their pharmacies right across from them. Which was what Walgreens did to small independent pharmacies.
Problem is that there were now at least three sometimes four pharmacies in a small area not counting the pharmacies in grocery stores and the like.
Something had to give and since Rite-Aid had the most debt it was them.
haven’t checked ours lately but used to go there quite a lot. had thrifty ice cream, had watch battery, etc. last few time a bunch of empty shelves and one cashier. never got prescriptions there though.
well that makes some sense too. a lot of different takes so far. i guess the real economy is not in great shape, yet. hopefully Trump can make some headway.
yup. that’s not good either.
In the 90’s, Rite Aid pharmacy gave my wife birth control pills for an Rx for prenatal vitamins.
BC pills come in a totally different dispenser then prenatals.
Around 2010 in my area north of Philadelphia Rite-Aid, CVS & Walgreens appeared to be in a 3-way duel to build a pharmacy on every major corner. Like they were trying to block each other out. Incredibly wasteful and we are now seeing the result.
How much did retail theft have to do with the bankruptcy?
Too much shoplifting by the “vulnerable communities.”
Although I live in a good area, my local Rite Aid put much of its inventory behind glass, post Summer of Floyd.
Yes, same thing happened in and around San Francisco at the same time. Fifteen years later, approx. 2/3 of the Walgreen have closed, ditto ~ 4/5 of the CVS, and now all of Rite Aids.
I always thought Rite Aid was kind of a dumb name for company on the fringes of health care business. Name sounds a bit like a conversation with a grim diagnosis.
“Doctor, I suspect I have a horrible disease. Do I?”
“Right. AIDS.”
My local family owned pharmacy is doing land office business while the Walgreens across the street may close.
I’ve been doing business with this guy for 25 years.
L
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