Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

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Alpha8472
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Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by Alpha8472 »

Rite Aid has converted most of its Buffalo, New York stores to the newest version of the Wellness format. These new store feature a high style interior decor with wood flooring and wood panels on the walls.

http://drugstorenews.com/slideshow/rite ... ore-part-1

The new concept is nice and there are some new products as well. I am interested in seeing some of the new computerized kiosks that they are putting into their stores.

The new stores look great. If only Rite Aid would remodel their West Coast stores into this format. The remodels of Rite Aid stores on the West Coast have been extremely limited. Some of the remodels in the past several years involved hanging some 90s era Rite Aid signs in place of aging Thrifty and Payless signs. That is not much of a remodel at all.

I am still wondering why Rite Aid abandoned the city of San Francisco several years ago. San Francisco needs some competition with Walgreens' huge virtual monopoly in the city. Rite Aid generally has lower prices than Walgreens and CVS.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by steps »

I love the Wellness format, it looks so much more classier than the previous 90's one. I have been going to Riteaid more often than I did just because it feels much fresher and open than before. I used to be a CVS person, but all that red was starting to bother me.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

Alpha8472 wrote:Rite Aid has converted most of its Buffalo, New York stores to the newest version of the Wellness format. These new store feature a high style interior decor with wood flooring and wood panels on the walls.

http://drugstorenews.com/slideshow/rite ... ore-part-1

The new concept is nice and there are some new products as well. I am interested in seeing some of the new computerized kiosks that they are putting into their stores.

The new stores look great. If only Rite Aid would remodel their West Coast stores into this format. The remodels of Rite Aid stores on the West Coast have been extremely limited. Some of the remodels in the past several years involved hanging some 90s era Rite Aid signs in place of aging Thrifty and Payless signs. That is not much of a remodel at all.

I am still wondering why Rite Aid abandoned the city of San Francisco several years ago. San Francisco needs some competition with Walgreens' huge virtual monopoly in the city. Rite Aid generally has lower prices than Walgreens and CVS.
Actually,California(if not other Western states where Rite Aid operates)has been seeing its share of Wellness conversions.In my neck of the woods alone,I know of at least seven such conversions:
  • Watt/Arden(early 70's former PayLess,previously remodeled/downsized by Rite Aid in 2004)
  • Auburn/Van Maren in west Citrus Heights(1999 RA-1 new build)
  • Gold River(early 90's former PayLess that was remodeled into the RA-1 format almost as soon as it received Rite Aid signage)
  • Kiefer Boulevard in Rosemont Plaza(former Thrifty that was remodeled into the RA-1 format almost as soon as it received RA signage though slightly later than Gold River)
  • Norwood/Jessie avenues(1999 RA-1 new build)
  • West Elk Grove(Elk Grove Boulevard Nugget Market center in Laguna,2003 new build)
  • Carmichael(late 1998 RA-1 new build replacing former Super S/Pay-n-Save/PayLess in redevelopment of 1963-era Safeway/Super S center at Manzanita/Fair Oaks)
With Sacramento being a dominant market for Rite Aid,I wouldn't be surprised if other conversions are either ongoing or are further down the road(so far,no word on whether my store is planned for a conversion yet).I've only been in the Carmichael one since I've lived in that zipcode for over 14 months now(my closest pharmacy is actually a CVS on the other side of the Carmichael/Fair Oaks zipcode line)and the other 6 conversions are trickier to reach when using transit...
For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by storewanderer »

I want to say the one around Folsom and 59th Street and also the one on Alhambra both got converted.. but I am having second thoughts on Alhambra now but I am positive about Folsom and 59th in Sacramento...
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by Alpha8472 »

The Rite Aid store in the photos is apparently open 24 hours. I have not seen any in California that are open 24 hours. Rite Aid just redesigned their website and apparently they call stores that are open 24 hours Nite Aid. Walgreens and CVS have 24 hours stores and I think that in some areas of California Rite Aid should be able to run a 24 hour store. The reason that Walgreens thinks that it can charge outrageously expensive prices is that in some cities the 24 hour Walgreens is the only place open late at night to get over the counter medicines. Rite Aid should be able to beat Walgreens on pricing and be the preferred late night drug store.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by Super S »

Rite Aid did have a couple of 24 hour stores in the Portland area at one point. I remember the sign being on the Oregon City store, a large, former PayLess, not long after Rite Aid took over, as well as ads on Portland TV stations. Not sure where the others were though, or if Rite Aid even has any 24 hour stores in the area any more.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by storewanderer »

Rite Aid has a new website as of a few months ago and I gave their store locator a shot tonight.

It looks like they have one 24 hour store in Hillsboro and one in Milwaukie.

I think there is only one 24 hour store left in all of Northern California in Sacramento.

I found an odd set up in Long Beach, CA over a year ago with two 24 hour stores a few miles apart. One was a very strange old Thrifty that had a Payless interior (no Rite Aid remodel) and the other was a RA1 remodeled into a wellness store.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

That one 24-hour Rite Aid in Sacro is on Alhambra in midtown(across the Cap City Freeway from Sutter General Hospital which is operated by the same Sutter Health that runs Sutter Express Care clinics inside RA locations in Greenhaven,north Natomas and on Foothills Boulevard in Roseville).While only the front end of the store is 24 hours,the pharmacy does have extended hours(7am-11pm)daily.I've been in there once a few years ago(in broad daylight,though),and I must say that it is both a compact and well merchandised RA-1(no indication in the yelp review that it's received a wellness conversion yet).Prior to the Martin Grass accounting scandal,three other RA locations locally(Greenhaven,Watt/Arden,and Orangevale;all former PayLess units)were also open 24 hours.Orangevale was sold off to Longs Drugs(and now operates as CVS/pharmacy)which stopped the 24-hour operation upon acquiring the store;while Greenhaven(originally included in the Longs transaction only to be removed at the last minute along with a few Chico and South Bay units presumably due to FTC issues)and Watt/Arden remained 24 hours operations until the early 2000's.

Additionally,while the respective yelp reviews don't yet suggest that Alhambra or Folsom/59th have been converted,I can say that both the Elverta(where I was loaned out to for a day a couple years back)and Folsom(East Bidwell/Glenn)stores,both built as RA-1's,have received Wellness remodels...
For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by storewanderer »

For some reason, Rite Aid has far fewer 24 hour stores in NorCal than other regions. I wonder if it has something to do with the terms of their labor agreement in that region for overnight shifts combined with that a lot of parts of NorCal are just rather "quiet" in the middle of the night.

SoCal has a lot of 24 hour Rite Aids, some very close together. Portland even has a couple, and that is generally a pretty sleepy area late at night.

I was back east last summer and was in Manchester, NH after flying in around 1 AM I went looking for a store. I found open a nice Rite Aid (former Brooks, former Osco, nice sized store), both store and pharmacy, wide open, at nearly 2 AM.
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Re: Rite Aid Converts Buffalo Stores To Wellness Format

Post by Super S »

I recently visited a nearby Rite Aid (Kelso, WA) which was a former Thrifty, turned Pay 'N Save, turned PayLess, turned Rite Aid. Earlier this year they advertised a grand re-opening to the Wellness format and I finally had a chance to check it out. I actually liked the appearance of the new package, with the woodgrain background signage on the walls, and completely new flooring. This was similar to a store undergoing a remodel in Sherwood, Oregon I was at not long ago. They also finally ditched the holdover Pay 'N Save checkstands and have installed front counter registers more common to Rite Aid. About the only holdover really is the pharmacy, which is still located in the back center of the store, however, as this store is in a strip mall, it is not feasible to install a drive-thru pharmacy.

This store previously had a mix of features from the previous stores...floors from Thrifty, the checkstands I mentioned from Pay 'N Save, and the pink/gray PayLess interior walls. It was long overdue for a remodel and, in my opinion, nicely done. Rite Aid still has a number of stores in the region that have not been remodeled in at least 15-20 years, and they are wise to finally be doing some updating.
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