Rite Aid's Future

[Super S]

If the way they are running Albertsons is any indication, it would be wise for Supervalu to not even attempt to take over Rite Aid.

[storewanderer]

Supervalu is in no position to take anything over. The only thing going on there is store closures, stores being sold in odd random groups, and other things that clearly show they are in trouble.

With the way SVU runs things, I'm not sure it would be any better than Rite Aid. I guess SVU could get costs down on Rite AId's private label line by importing items from China such as hand sanitizer and bandages which they are doing with the Equaline line at this time, but charging full price for these items similar to what other stores charge for the "Made in USA" versions of these items. The "Made in China" bandages and hand sanitizer to this point were found only in dollar stores at the 1.00 price point. Supervalu wants about 3x that for their versions.

[Alpha8472]

I would hate to see Thrify Ice Cream go extinct. That is the only tie to Thrifty left. If Rite Aid dies, what will happen to the brand? Walgreens and CVS don't serve ice cream in their stores.

There is one thing about Rite Aid that I think is nice. Rite Aid Pharmacies are all linked. That means you can go to any Rite Aid Pharmacy and they have complete records of your prescriptions. The pharmacy computers at Safeway, Save Mart, Albertsons, etc. are not linked. That means each pharmacy has no idea what is going on at another pharmacy within their own chain. The pharmacies at supermarkets are way behind in technology.

I think that it would be stupid of Supervalu to get rid of the Osco name. Jewel-Osco is a well known name. It would cost money to remove Osco signs and the backlash from the loss of a familiar drug store brand would not benefit them.

[steps]

... (SuperValu would be the best canidate since they have pharmacy experience and could bring back the Thrifty name and Sav-on)...

Tough choice... What do you bring back to Southern California? Sav•On or Thrifty?

I'd like to see both, perhaps SV could keep Sav•On for the grocery branding and Thrifty as the standalone operation?

Personally, I would love to see Thrifty's come back. I grew up with both Sav-On and Thrifty's, but Thrifty's has always been better then Sav-On in selection and quality. What it really boils down to is whoever the next owner of Rite-Aid will be will have to make drastic changes for their stores to even be profitable (if that is even possible).

[storewanderer]

Rite Aid is a peculiar case because the stores ARE profitable. The company loses tons of money because they don't make enough profit to pay the cost to service their debt.

I would venture a guess the west coast is far more profitable for Rite Aid than we would imagine but that is just a guess.

As far as the Thrifty Ice Cream goes, I'm sure someone would snatch that up and the plant and resell it, perhaps in more outlets than it is sold now.

Albertsons Pharmacy System was linked, and as I understand it, it was linked back in the ASC Days of the late 90s (the Albertsons Stores all went to the ASC systems in 2000). I remember seeing pharmacy literature at Sav-On here in the late 90's with the Lucky, Osco, Acme, and Jewel logo and a map of the US stating you can access your prescription at any of these locations. Now, what I don't know is if they were linked via computer or linked via a telephone...

Kroger's system appears to be linked by computer, similar to the systems of Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid now.

I don't think Longs system was linked. I may be wrong on that.

[trainman]

Along my commute, at Victory Blvd. and Tujunga Ave. in North Hollywood, an independent grocery store closed, was partially demolished (basically everything but the roof was torn down), and rebuilt. With this thread in mind, I was somewhat surprised to see that the new tenant is Rite Aid -- guess, despite their debt load, they've decided they need more locations in southern California to remain competitive. (There's a CVS half a mile from that location in one direction, and another CVS about a mile away in another direction.)

Something odd I noticed: at the moment, the Rite Aid isn't yet open for business. All the exterior signage is installed and lit up -- but the instances of the word "Pharmacy," and only the word "Pharmacy," are covered. (Looks most odd in that, at the moment, there's a sign pointing to the "Drive-Thru ________.") Is there some law about advertising a nonexistent pharmacy -- or is it possible that they're planning to open the rest of the store before the pharmacy?

[storewanderer]

When Rite Aid was liquidating its Las Vegas Stores, I just so happened to be in Las Vegas, and noticed they painted over or covered all signage relating to "Pharmacy" as they were conducting the liquidation sales (the stores were open).

I also noticed a situation like you described on a new build Rite Aid that was not yet open in Roseville, CA last year where they had all of the signage up, but any signage related to pharmacy was closed.

I have seen CVS and Walgreens build new stores and fully expose their "Pharmacy" signage while the store is in the process of being stocked/finished. So, who knows what Rite Aid is doing, but I assume they are doing it for some reason (or not; it is Rite Aid after all).

[Alpha8472]

I walked into Rite Aid today and I noticed that they had replaced all of their old cash register machines. They used to have some really ancient units that didn't even have color screens. Now all of their checkout lanes feature the most up to date systems. They also replaced all of their credit card readers with brand new models just like the ones you find at CVS and other stores. Even the Thrifty Ice Cream counter had the new card readers.

The windows of the store already had advertisements heralding their new rewards card. I am curious to see how this entire rewards card program works out.

[Super S]

When Rite Aid was liquidating its Las Vegas Stores, I just so happened to be in Las Vegas, and noticed they painted over or covered all signage relating to "Pharmacy" as they were conducting the liquidation sales (the stores were open).

I also noticed a situation like you described on a new build Rite Aid that was not yet open in Roseville, CA last year where they had all of the signage up, but any signage related to pharmacy was closed.

I have seen CVS and Walgreens build new stores and fully expose their "Pharmacy" signage while the store is in the process of being stocked/finished. So, who knows what Rite Aid is doing, but I assume they are doing it for some reason (or not; it is Rite Aid after all).

For what it's worth, when the Vancouver Kmart recently closed, I noticed that at the start of the liquidation sale, they took down the Pharmacy sign outside, as well as the interior signage.That's pretty common when a store is closing, but I have never seen such a thing on a store under construction.

[apteafan]

Rite-Aid finally has a loyalty card, Wellness Program, that makes some sense.

Once you sign up, purchases including prescription co-pays, quality for points. I also like the automatic ten percent discount on all regular price Rite-Aid products.