Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

[storewanderer]

None of that happens for retail. When a company goes bankrupt, it's very difficult to rebound. I can't really think of any major retailers that went through bankruptcy and then were successful afterwards.

Furthermore, after their experience with Kmart/Sears, the public will expect that a wave of store closures is usually followed by another.

I hope Rite Aid recovers, but honestly it's not looking good.

Wasn't Macy's bankrupt back in the 90's or something?

I don't like what I am seeing with Rite Aid. Too many stores are closing that shouldn't be closing. They were already spread few and far between in some markets. After closure activity the spread is that much further apart.

I also am not sure Rite Aid would have gone bankrupt if it weren't for the opioid thing. But they sure did a good job running their stores into the ground the past few years blowing money on a useless new logo, cutting inventory (hurting sales), cutting store hours further than competitors, and stopping what was a great remodel program in Wellness and replacing it with what is clearly a failed prototype (based on the store closures of multiple stores in VA/ID that got remodeled into that new prototype). I don't want to say they were trying to go bankrupt with all the missteps I mentioned in the last few sentences, but once they got that store closure program going and closing many stores with 5-8 years left on the lease that looked like viable stores to me (or should have been viable if operated correctly) my feelings got much stronger that they were trying to go bankrupt because they had closed so many stores with such long leases left they had to use bankruptcy to reject those leases, no way they could carry those many additional dark store leases with their already not great financial performance.

I've always liked Rite Aid better than the other drug chains. They've always been the underdog but I always liked their larger mix of items and felt they had a good private label program and I liked their promotions on it over the years. CVS private label is not promoted much and high price (too many buy one get one 50% off type promotions). Walgreens private label I've always considered to be of questionable quality though it has gotten better since Boots occurred.

[buckguy]

Federated went bankrupt after they were bought by a Canadian developer and were forced to merge with Allied Stores which he also owned. Macy's went bankrupt after Federated's reorg and was bought by Federated.

[Super S]

None of that happens for retail. When a company goes bankrupt, it's very difficult to rebound. I can't really think of any major retailers that went through bankruptcy and then were successful afterwards.

Furthermore, after their experience with Kmart/Sears, the public will expect that a wave of store closures is usually followed by another.

I hope Rite Aid recovers, but honestly it's not looking good.

Wasn't Macy's bankrupt back in the 90's or something?

Not sure I would consider Macy's as "rebounded". They have struggled to stay relevant, and seems to be trying to figure out what kind of store it should be, with many stores that are looking tired. Macy's also has been slowly closing locations.

If Rite Aid does close down, unless a competitor such as CVS steps in, it is going to leave Walgreens as the only major drug store chain in a lot of towns in the Pacific Northwest, an area where CVS is more commonly found as a pharmacy in Target than as a standalone store.

[storewanderer]

None of that happens for retail. When a company goes bankrupt, it's very difficult to rebound. I can't really think of any major retailers that went through bankruptcy and then were successful afterwards.

Furthermore, after their experience with Kmart/Sears, the public will expect that a wave of store closures is usually followed by another.

I hope Rite Aid recovers, but honestly it's not looking good.

Wasn't Macy's bankrupt back in the 90's or something?

Not sure I would consider Macy's as "rebounded". They have struggled to stay relevant, and seems to be trying to figure out what kind of store it should be, with many stores that are looking tired. Macy's also has been slowly closing locations.

If Rite Aid does close down, unless a competitor such as CVS steps in, it is going to leave Walgreens as the only major drug store chain in a lot of towns in the Pacific Northwest, an area where CVS is more commonly found as a pharmacy in Target than as a standalone store.

It isn't too uncommon to see this situation in much of the middle of the US.

Next I expect as Walgreens and CVS have aggressive store closure programs of their own they will start to exit territories and essentially cede markets to each other.

I also expect Walgreens to make some decisions on store footprint as their stores are largely oversized and underutilized. CVS with mostly smaller stores (except in CA) has a more manageable store size for the drugstore format of today in the US where front end is basically a joke.

After that process is done in 10 or 15 years, CVS will go in for the final kill and acquire what is left of Walgreens.

[babs]

None of that happens for retail. When a company goes bankrupt, it's very difficult to rebound. I can't really think of any major retailers that went through bankruptcy and then were successful afterwards.

Furthermore, after their experience with Kmart/Sears, the public will expect that a wave of store closures is usually followed by another.

I hope Rite Aid recovers, but honestly it's not looking good.

Wasn't Macy's bankrupt back in the 90's or something?

Not sure I would consider Macy's as "rebounded". They have struggled to stay relevant, and seems to be trying to figure out what kind of store it should be, with many stores that are looking tired. Macy's also has been slowly closing locations.

If Rite Aid does close down, unless a competitor such as CVS steps in, it is going to leave Walgreens as the only major drug store chain in a lot of towns in the Pacific Northwest, an area where CVS is more commonly found as a pharmacy in Target than as a standalone store.

Most grocery stores have pharmacies. Wouldn't surprise me to see Kroger have a greater market share than
Walgreens in the NW. Fred Meyer stores do a high volume of RX business.

[bryceleinan]

Wasn't Macy's bankrupt back in the 90's or something?

Not sure I would consider Macy's as "rebounded". They have struggled to stay relevant, and seems to be trying to figure out what kind of store it should be, with many stores that are looking tired. Macy's also has been slowly closing locations.

If Rite Aid does close down, unless a competitor such as CVS steps in, it is going to leave Walgreens as the only major drug store chain in a lot of towns in the Pacific Northwest, an area where CVS is more commonly found as a pharmacy in Target than as a standalone store.

Most grocery stores have pharmacies. Wouldn't surprise me to see Kroger have a greater market share than
Walgreens in the NW. Fred Meyer stores do a high volume of RX business.

With the RA in North Bend, OR closing and the previous closure of the Bi-Mart pharmacies, that leaves Coos Bay / North Bend (population just shy of 27k) with the two Safeway pharmacies, Walmart, Walgreens, and Fred Meyer. Both Safeway stores are absolutely buried, as are Walmart and Fred Meyer. I've only been in the Walgreens a couple of times, so cannot measure volume like I can the others.

Bandon is worse - the only pharmacies in town are Rite Aid and Coast Medical, both of which are closed on weekends. I went to the Bandon store, and from what the associate (only one working in the store) told me, they did not get any help from the closing location in North Bend.

I can say that a wholesale loss of Rite Aid would not be good for Oregonians, especially on the coast.

[storewanderer]

With the RA in North Bend, OR closing and the previous closure of the Bi-Mart pharmacies, that leaves Coos Bay / North Bend (population just shy of 27k) with the two Safeway pharmacies, Walmart, Walgreens, and Fred Meyer. Both Safeway stores are absolutely buried, as are Walmart and Fred Meyer. I've only been in the Walgreens a couple of times, so cannot measure volume like I can the others.

Bandon is worse - the only pharmacies in town are Rite Aid and Coast Medical, both of which are closed on weekends. I went to the Bandon store, and from what the associate (only one working in the store) told me, they did not get any help from the closing location in North Bend.

I can say that a wholesale loss of Rite Aid would not be good for Oregonians, especially on the coast.

A wholesale loss of Rite Aid won't be good for anyone.

Bandon Rite Aid is a former Ray's RX Express or whatever they called pharmacy/former Tiffany's Drug as I recall (I think they had a couple stores?). Pretty sure under previous ownerships pharmacy was at least open on Saturday for a few hours but never open Sunday.

I wonder why no employees transferred from North Bend. Maybe none wanted to transfer. Rite Aid has been very good about transferring employees from closing stores into stores staying open. I have wondered if trying to get some stores fully staffed has led them to close some marginal stores and relocate the employees. That seems like a really bad strategy in the long run but it addresses the short term staffing problem.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

15 additional closures announced,bringing the total connected to the chapter 11 filing to 199

• only California location listed in this latest addendum is Paradise(considering long term depopulation years after the tragic Camp Fire,miraculous that it's lasted this long,at least Magalia remains),mixed signals remain at both Anaheim Hills and South Lake Tahoe based on vaccine scheduling(no cutoff date yet for Paradise)
• four more PNW locations:Portland Cully,Spokane Downtown,and yet two more Bartell locations
• four more in the 'home' state of Pennsylvania(including yet another Philly location plus at least one suburban one)which already now has fewer locations than California
• Baltimore and Detroit are each losing yet another location

► Show Spoiler

I started easing into 4300 Elverta yesterday.Decently productive store with better clientele in a better neighborhood with lessened competition.Vendor deliveries are a mixed bag over three weeks after the filing:milk and Frito Lay delivered yesterday but it appears that the only beverage vendor that has delivered lately has been Red Bull based on stock levels.Regular truckload comes Wednesday.

[buckguy]

A mixed bag of locations. Classic suburban corridor outside of Toledo where they should do well, the Philly city line in an older shopping area, an area of Philly that's near gentrification, a marginal shopping center in Baltimore and an area of Detroit that is a little away from a reviving business district.

[SamSpade]

15 additional closures announced,bringing the total connected to the chapter 11 filing to 199

four more PNW locations:

• Portland Cully - perceived as a "challenging" neighborhood / across the street from an Albertsons with a pharmacy (that I expect will go to C&S), only an auto parts supplier in the same shopping plaza
• Spokane Downtown - always had a 'challenged' perception as a neighborhood despite the nice mall and Nordstrom as anchor, probably fewer downtown office workers and tourists, cool 1970s exterior from what I remember. I believe this leaves downtown Spokane with no pharmacy or general drug store.
  and yet two more Bartell locations
• Issaquah - near a full-line Fred Meyer
• Lake City Way - near an older full-line Fred Meyer, Walgreens