Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

[ClownLoach]

CVS not doing well? Their earnings per share were over $6 last year and they've beat Wall Street 4 quarters in a row. Their earnings per share are 300% higher than freaking WALMART. They're forecasting earnings UP another TWO DOLLARS A SHARE this year. Walmart only makes two dollars a share period! They've got profit flying out of every orifice. They literally cannot make money fast enough to be satisfied due to their outrageous greed. I wish I was doing as badly as CVS.

They certainly sound like they are doing just fine, though looking it seems that Walmart has about 7x as many shares (8billion+) as CVS (1.2 billion), so Walmart earning $2/share may actually be better than CVS earning $8/share once you figure out what that total earnings comes out to

My point is that they're insanely profitable. They're like Uncle Scrooge crying that he is a poor old man.

[BillyGr]

CVS not doing well? Their earnings per share were over $6 last year and they've beat Wall Street 4 quarters in a row. Their earnings per share are 300% higher than freaking WALMART. They're forecasting earnings UP another TWO DOLLARS A SHARE this year. Walmart only makes two dollars a share period! They've got profit flying out of every orifice. They literally cannot make money fast enough to be satisfied due to their outrageous greed. I wish I was doing as badly as CVS.

They certainly sound like they are doing just fine, though looking it seems that Walmart has about 7x as many shares (8billion+) as CVS (1.2 billion), so Walmart earning $2/share may actually be better than CVS earning $8/share once you figure out what that total earnings comes out to

My point is that they're insanely profitable. They're like Uncle Scrooge crying that he is a poor old man.

Certainly that is true

[storewanderer]

Tonight we have Docket 2675. It lists 1,557 properties they want to keep in the restructure. It looks like the top 7 or so are not stores but after that it is all stores.

I am wondering if this implies the stores NOT listed on this list are stores that they are planning to close. Some of the stores NOT listed on this list have been on other lists where they supposedly accepted CURE amounts on leases. So maybe this isn't an all inclusive list of what they plan to keep?

~ttps://www.reddit.com/r/RiteAid/comments/1bzad2y/docket_2675/

[ClownLoach]

Tonight we have Docket 2675. It lists 1,557 properties they want to keep in the restructure. It looks like the top 7 or so are not stores but after that it is all stores.

I am wondering if this implies the stores NOT listed on this list are stores that they are planning to close. Some of the stores NOT listed on this list have been on other lists where they supposedly accepted CURE amounts on leases. So maybe this isn't an all inclusive list of what they plan to keep?

~ttps://www.reddit.com/r/RiteAid/comments/1bzad2y/docket_2675/

I would assume this is just like other filings, the paperwork on the front is the court action requested but the exhibit (the store list) will just be revised and edited later. There are many comments that stores currently in the closing process are on this list, and stores that are listed on other lists as accepted/renegotiated are missing. They are approaching the end of the bankruptcy and what will happen is one final wave of filings at exit that will include revisions to all the exhibits. There will be no final list until the final day, that's just how it works as everything is subject to revision. If you or I was in court and we filed something inaccurate under penalty of perjury, we would go to jail. When it's these corporations, they file incorrect stuff all day long and get the right to revise it whenever and however they want to, consequence free.

I also expect to see an additional wave of closures to clean up markets where they were decimated and it doesn't make sense to remain with just one or two stores. Those will be stores negotiated in good faith to stay previously. For example I've called out Wildomar as a future outlier along with whatever is left in Menifee. Despite being areas where they should want to be putting stores due to rampant growth, they basically abandoned the area because of their lack of understanding of the market. No landlord with a drop of sanity is going to give concessions in a market where everyone is probably double digit comp positive annually. They didn't need to negotiate rent breaks because they would have come naturally through increased sales leveraging the fixed expenses.

If there is anything we can learn from this list, it's that there appears to be no change in strategy, no unexpected sale of divisions or really anything to a competitor. Despite the appearance that such deals could be in the works due to the course that was taken amongst the closures, there are no official signs that they ever intended to deviate from the original plan to sell the company to the creditors.

[storewanderer]

More closures today on the bankruptcy docket. 17 stores. Most in CA/PA.

Still no more in OR/WA. I think OR/WA have been spoken for in their current form.

Also hearing multiple stores are getting told they are closing this week... which are not on any lists yet (I guess we will see those on a list next week). This is starting to feel like November-December all over again.

Meanwhile the shelves in the stores are SO empty. The emptiest they've ever been.

[reymann]

Rite Aid on 10th & Fargo in Hanford are among the closures.

[babs]

More closures today on the bankruptcy docket. 17 stores. Most in CA/PA.

Still no more in OR/WA. I think OR/WA have been spoken for in their current form.

Also hearing multiple stores are getting told they are closing this week... which are not on any lists yet (I guess we will see those on a list next week). This is starting to feel like November-December all over again.

Meanwhile the shelves in the stores are SO empty. The emptiest they've ever been.

I stopped by a Rite Aid last night and it looked like they were going out of business. Massive bare shelves throughout the store. Also, no one was staffing the registers so it would have been easy to walk out with whatever I wanted.

[Jeff]

At this point, Rite-Aid is using the Sears playbook on how to shut down a chain.

[storewanderer]

I've been in four Rite Aids this week. One store was actually quite well stocked. I was really surprised. It isn't a very busy store. I was told they received a massive amount of product from multiple stores that had closed and that was why they were so well stocked. I was then brought to the attention of how they have "full shelves" of stuff that never sells, like 8-9 units of random baby facial products, etc. thanks to what the closed stores sent them. This store also took out some aisles in the back corner of the store that had been empty for years now (larger store) and that really helped open it up at the back They could consolidate a few more aisles and take out a few more aisles and probably do themselves a favor.

I went to another location that was a bit rough with some departments almost completely empty (including cosmetics, maybe a theft issue) but other areas stocked pretty well but not as well as the last location.

I then went to another location a RA1 unit with a wellness remodel and this place was a DISASTER. Empty shelves EVERYWHERE. Clearance 75% off sale that is supposed to be set in seasonal aisles not set. Two aisles out on the sales floor in front of the stockroom blocked off and being used as overflow stockroom with shelves stuffed with stuff, stuff on the floor, carts, a total pigsty. This place had a Walgreens a couple blocks away that closed and I'd think they would try harder. Nobody was shopping the store but there was a trickle of pharmacy traffic walking in and out and that part of the operation seemed to be in good shape.

The final location I went to which is probably the busiest of the group I visited was 70% in stock at best storewide and in many cases the items in stock had like 1-2 units of product on the shelf. The departments with out of stocks were basically all over the store. Some areas were over 50% out of stock. It was bad. Very bad.

Also 1 scoop of Thrifty now costs 2.79.

[ClownLoach]

I've been in four Rite Aids this week. One store was actually quite well stocked. I was really surprised. It isn't a very busy store. I was told they received a massive amount of product from multiple stores that had closed and that was why they were so well stocked. I was then brought to the attention of how they have "full shelves" of stuff that never sells, like 8-9 units of random baby facial products, etc. thanks to what the closed stores sent them. This store also took out some aisles in the back corner of the store that had been empty for years now (larger store) and that really helped open it up at the back They could consolidate a few more aisles and take out a few more aisles and probably do themselves a favor.

I went to another location that was a bit rough with some departments almost completely empty (including cosmetics, maybe a theft issue) but other areas stocked pretty well but not as well as the last location.

I then went to another location a RA1 unit with a wellness remodel and this place was a DISASTER. Empty shelves EVERYWHERE. Clearance 75% off sale that is supposed to be set in seasonal aisles not set. Two aisles out on the sales floor in front of the stockroom blocked off and being used as overflow stockroom with shelves stuffed with stuff, stuff on the floor, carts, a total pigsty. This place had a Walgreens a couple blocks away that closed and I'd think they would try harder. Nobody was shopping the store but there was a trickle of pharmacy traffic walking in and out and that part of the operation seemed to be in good shape.

The final location I went to which is probably the busiest of the group I visited was 70% in stock at best storewide and in many cases the items in stock had like 1-2 units of product on the shelf. The departments with out of stocks were basically all over the store. Some areas were over 50% out of stock. It was bad. Very bad.

Also 1 scoop of Thrifty now costs 2.79.

I have trouble understanding why they're not using the liquidators to clear the closing stores. It sounds like the use of store labor and field management to move product around is causing the stores to be unsupervised and standards to collapse to an unacceptable level. Wonder if the stores being torn up, aisles blocked etc. are going to wind up on the chopping block. Only reason I can think of is that maybe some of these odd items didn't sell until they were below cost and thus the return on the liquidation was negative. It could make sense for certain health products where nobody would buy them unless they specifically needed them, so they go below cost and then scavengers buy them to resell online, "bundle of six items" on ebay.

I do expect there to be a large final wave of closing stores and I wonder if they'll do the same thing, transfer the goods around, or just let liquidators do the job. Too many markets now where their presence is spotty or almost non-existent, so it wouldn't surprise me to see them just pull out even if they had previously told the stores they were staying open or they had renegotiated the lease. Even with a better lease there's no point in staying in a region, county, etc. where you only have two or three stores and your competitors have dozens.