We've lost thousands of different stores across the U.S. since the start of the COVID pandemic. But most recently, there's been a particularly strong pullback from major drugstore chains. Both CVS and Walgreens have been steadily working through plans to close hundreds of locations each throughout the country, while Rite Aid has been engaged in even more aggressive downsizing. Now, this former giant has announced its latest round of pharmacy closures.
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Things really came to a head for Rite Aid this fall: With steadily declining sales and $3.3 billion in debt, the company chose to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 15, CNN reported.
"It was always a matter of when, not if, Rite Aid would file for bankruptcy," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, stated in a note to investors, per CNN. "The company has been deep in the red for the past six years."
At the time of the filing, Rite Aid CEO Jeffrey Stein said in a press release that the company was still planning to "move ahead" and stay in business. "Rite Aid has served customers and communities across our country for more than 60 years," he said.
Stein continued, "With the support of our lenders, we look forward to strengthening our financial foundation, advancing our transformation initiatives, and accelerating the execution of our turnaround strategy. In doing so, we will be even better able to deliver the healthcare products and services our customers and their families rely on—now and into the future."
As part of its efforts to turn things around, Rite Aid is working to optimize its store portfolio. In other words, close certain locations.
"In connection with the court-supervised process, the company will continue assessing its footprint and close additional underperforming stores. These efforts will further reduce the Company’s rent expense and are expected to strengthen its overall financial performance," the retailer said in the release.
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Back in October, Rite Aid had around 2,100 stores located in the U.S. But the company revealed that same month that it would be initially closing 154 stores along with its bankruptcy filing. Since then, Rite Aid has steadily announced more shutdowns every few weeks. And once again, the retailer has dropped a new list of even more closures.
In a court document (which can be downloaded here) filed by Rite Aid on Dec. 12, the company revealed its next set of closures. According to the document, another 12 Rite Aid locations are now on the chopping block.
These new closures impact nine different states: California, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
Pennsylvania is set to lose the most locations, with three Rite Aid stores closing in the cities of Bethlehem, Jeannette, and New Cumberland. Following that, two locations are being shut down in California—one in Rancho Mission Viejo, and the other in Northridge.
Meanwhile, the other states are losing one Rite Aid store each in this latest set of closures. These stores are in Woodhaven, Michigan; Concord, New Hampshire; Medford, New Jersey; New Windsor, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Chesapeake, Virginia; and Marysville, Washington.
