Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

[storewanderer]

Supposedly the distribution center closure in Woodland, CA is being pushed up a couple weeks and by the end of the month all of the NorCal Stores will be supplied via SoCal.

I think that closure was subject to WARN due to the number of impacted employees.

Meanwhile those sign walkers still post ads... latest one posted within the last few days for Portland area does not specify a start date...

[mburb1981]

This article on the closing Midtown Detroit Rite Aid mentions another factor in its closure that isn't corporate-related: allegedly this location had theft issues.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/busin ... 929040007/

The article also mentions that the store will be the fifth chain pharmacy to have shut down along Woodward in Detroit and Highland Park in the past seven years, after two CVS stores along between midtown and the southern Highland Park border closed in 2019 and the CVS and Walgreens almost adjacent to each other along Woodward in Highland Park closed between 2017 and 2019.

[Romr123]

Thanks for posting the Free Press article.

TBH the tone of the article kind of matches how the reception for the closing RA stores seems to have been for RA throughout Michigan--it's not "oh noes....RA on it's way out"; rather "oh, the local RA is closing, here might be why, the next closest isn't too far away".

RA still has superior rural coverage even after the closing locations.

[storewanderer]

So it appears how Rite Aid is handling the issue of the long distance to supply Northern California Stores, is to shift most of the stores to only receiving a truck every two weeks. They've done this for years with some very low volume stores. Larger stores that have more storage space and knowledgeable management who can "order up" in anticipation for not getting deliveries often can make this work, sort of/kind of. But that is sort of a rare situation where it can be made to work.

This is a problem for a variety of reasons but one of the big ones is many Rite Aid locations that were built by Rite Aid have little to no backroom space. So it is very difficult for them to process a large truckload at once and then even more difficult for them to handle backstock. Unexpected changes in customer demand, hot ads, etc. will cause too many out of stocks that will persist for weeks and not days.

This move won't make it any easier for the remaining NorCal Stores to survive.

However given nothing was announced today I think a deletion of those sign walker help wanted ads on Craigslist is imminent.

[storewanderer]

Thanks for posting the Free Press article.

TBH the tone of the article kind of matches how the reception for the closing RA stores seems to have been for RA throughout Michigan--it's not "oh noes....RA on it's way out"; rather "oh, the local RA is closing, here might be why, the next closest isn't too far away".

RA still has superior rural coverage even after the closing locations.

They blew it out west. They gutted their once strong rural presence. Now it is oddly scattered. Very oddly scattered. The region they seem to still have the best coverage in is the Central Valley (Fresno/Stockton/Modesto/Bakersfield) and then "North State" (Redding etc.). They gutted Sacramento good and the bay area which they already had limited presence in again gutted it even further. They made a lot of mistakes in what stores were selected to close.

NorCal/OR were hit particularly bad in rural areas on closures. But SoCal rural areas were not spared with stores like Bishop and Needles closing.

[ClownLoach]

Thanks for posting the Free Press article.

TBH the tone of the article kind of matches how the reception for the closing RA stores seems to have been for RA throughout Michigan--it's not "oh noes....RA on it's way out"; rather "oh, the local RA is closing, here might be why, the next closest isn't too far away".

RA still has superior rural coverage even after the closing locations.

They blew it out west. They gutted their once strong rural presence. Now it is oddly scattered. Very oddly scattered. The region they seem to still have the best coverage in is the Central Valley (Fresno/Stockton/Modesto/Bakersfield) and then "North State" (Redding etc.). They gutted Sacramento good and the bay area which they already had limited presence in again gutted it even further. They made a lot of mistakes in what stores were selected to close.

NorCal/OR were hit particularly bad in rural areas on closures. But SoCal rural areas were not spared with stores like Bishop and Needles closing.

I really think they let the landlords make the decision for them on these closures though. They clearly have a high demand for rent reduction and pushing repair liability onto the landlord. I think many landlords simply cannot afford to take on the burden of the repairs, meaning that any site that wasn't owned by a huge corporation like Kimco was destined to close. There are probably dozens, maybe even hundreds of Rite Aid stores that closed because the landlord could take the hit on a rent reduction, but they knew that the liability for repairs and maintenance would potentially bankrupt them. It's obvious that they will emerge from bankruptcy with massively improved cash flows, which makes me wonder if they will pursue new store sites in many of the areas they've closed. The fact that now they are moving to a ultra cheap quality build as we saw in Winchester means they are more likely to be able to afford opening new locations where they can find more amenable landlords. I see no reason why they wouldn't open more stores post bankruptcy as long as they can actually emerge.

[Retailuser]

1,692 now according to the website.

[ClownLoach]

So it's the 20th. Where are the sign walkers?

[ClownLoach]

So it's the 20th. Where are the sign walkers?

[Retailuser]

So it's the 20th. Where are the sign walkers?

Fraud???