Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

[storewanderer]

How can this chain survive with stores that look like this?

What is going on here?

These are busy stores. I went into a couple obviously not busy stores that did not quite look this bad.

Those stores look like newer stores. This was a lot older store that is now closed, but when I went a few months ago, there were sections that were blocked off, and they had no Thrifty Ice Cream. Since it received no remodel and didn't have a Thrifty Ice Cream counter and low inventory and there is another Rite Aid in town that still operates and two other drug stores (CVS and Walgreens(which recently closed that location. Maybe an indicator that Rite Aid was the busier drug store.)) and a Walmart, Target, and Safeway with a pharmacy, why did Rite Aid keep operating it till January of this year and even received the new sign, while the location in Cameron Park that was brand new received nothing and closed two years earlier. That is surprising to see newer and busier stores struggle with this inventory. The stores look very nice inside, especially for a drug store. https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... g-set.html

These are very old stores. Former Thrifty Stores. Most seem to have had RA1 remodels, then the full Wellness remodels, and all done very thoroughly. These are probably some of the best performing stores in the chain. They close at 11 PM, have self checkout, etc.

[ClownLoach]

Are any of those stores that look so bad ones that were on the potential closings list but then they worked out with the landlord to keep them?

Thinking that the one in this area that has more of this issue (though it did have quite a bit of stuff in the seasonal section, so "new" stuff was obviously arriving now) was one of those that was in about the last or second to last list of settled leases, so possibly that they were sending less merchandise to those stores in case they did wind up closing them, and just haven't gotten "caught up" yet on stocking them in some sections?

I am not convinced any store on the "keep list" is actually safe even if the lease was renegotiated. They have too many areas where now their presence is 10% or less of what it was prior to bankruptcy which means that it would be unprofitable to continue to operate when you factor in marketing costs etc. I'll keep using my local example. Although some closures predate the bankruptcy, they have now closed everything in Murrieta, Temecula, the soon-to-be-city of Winchester, Lake Elsinore, and left one store in a terrible location in Wildomar. Obviously that single Wildomar store is not viable, and I suspect that it will be added to a final closing list. There may be entire markets they leave in a similar fashion because too many landlords voted "no" on their requests and too few voted "yes." I still expect another couple of hundred closures for this reason and the vast majority will be stores that were thought to be "safe" unfortunately.

I also really wonder what kind of pressure they're going to face reactivating vendors, especially when there are still some obvious supply issues in pharmaceutical products. If say Rite Aid made up 10% of XYZ OTC Generics capacity (note this is hypothetical) and Walmart had been wanting more of their generic OTC drugs, is it possible that once they were cut off from shipping due to bankruptcy that they will never get that capacity back? Lots of short supply still of allergy medication, pain pills, and others I see sparsely stocked at many drugstores, Target and Walmart. Basically if you were a vendor that dropped them do you even have the capacity to bring them back right now? That makes me concerned that their sales probably continue to be below expectations, they are burning DIP cash, and they keep extending the bankruptcy exit. Eventually it becomes an enterprise that isn't viable because too many regular customers leave when the goods they want aren't available and they find another source.

As wacky as it may sound, I am increasingly of the opinion that they should consider rebranding where a different banner is available once they get their act together. I have never thought of that as a successful means of getting business but I really wonder now how much damage has been done to the Rite Aid brand despite what seemed to be ample effort to prevent it. Maybe they should consider the Thrifty brand in SoCal etc. because I'm not even sure what else will bring back the business they've assuredly lost for good at this point.

[storewanderer]

I am not convinced any store on the "keep list" is actually safe even if the lease was renegotiated. They have too many areas where now their presence is 10% or less of what it was prior to bankruptcy which means that it would be unprofitable to continue to operate when you factor in marketing costs etc. I'll keep using my local example. Although some closures predate the bankruptcy, they have now closed everything in Murrieta, Temecula, the soon-to-be-city of Winchester, Lake Elsinore, and left one store in a terrible location in Wildomar. Obviously that single Wildomar store is not viable, and I suspect that it will be added to a final closing list. There may be entire markets they leave in a similar fashion because too many landlords voted "no" on their requests and too few voted "yes." I still expect another couple of hundred closures for this reason and the vast majority will be stores that were thought to be "safe" unfortunately.

I also really wonder what kind of pressure they're going to face reactivating vendors, especially when there are still some obvious supply issues in pharmaceutical products. If say Rite Aid made up 10% of XYZ OTC Generics capacity (note this is hypothetical) and Walmart had been wanting more of their generic OTC drugs, is it possible that once they were cut off from shipping due to bankruptcy that they will never get that capacity back? Lots of short supply still of allergy medication, pain pills, and others I see sparsely stocked at many drugstores, Target and Walmart. Basically if you were a vendor that dropped them do you even have the capacity to bring them back right now? That makes me concerned that their sales probably continue to be below expectations, they are burning DIP cash, and they keep extending the bankruptcy exit. Eventually it becomes an enterprise that isn't viable because too many regular customers leave when the goods they want aren't available and they find another source.

As wacky as it may sound, I am increasingly of the opinion that they should consider rebranding where a different banner is available once they get their act together. I have never thought of that as a successful means of getting business but I really wonder now how much damage has been done to the Rite Aid brand despite what seemed to be ample effort to prevent it. Maybe they should consider the Thrifty brand in SoCal etc. because I'm not even sure what else will bring back the business they've assuredly lost for good at this point.

The saving grace for Rite Aid will be its employees. The people in the stores are still friendly and helpful in light of all of the problems and the mess that is occurring. I am very impressed by the Rite Aid employees. I don't think they need to rebrand. They need to do something to increase sales on the front ends but without merchandise there is nothing they can do now. If they make the improvements to draw in more front end business (big if- IF they can pull it off) and that doesn't work then maybe they need to try a rebrand at that point.

The one thing they are doing that I think will hurt their reputation is the store closing sales with the liquidators. These liquidators are filling the stores up with total junk. Well, filling 4-5 aisles up with this junk. One store had an entire aisle of scrubs in little plastic food storage bags. Others had weird junk "home" items. Absurd prices on this complete garbage merchandise. I thought the stuff liquidators sent in to Kmart/Sears closing sales was junk but that stuff looked premium compared to what they are sending into Rite Aid.

[BillyGr]

Are any of those stores that look so bad ones that were on the potential closings list but then they worked out with the landlord to keep them?

Thinking that the one in this area that has more of this issue (though it did have quite a bit of stuff in the seasonal section, so "new" stuff was obviously arriving now) was one of those that was in about the last or second to last list of settled leases, so possibly that they were sending less merchandise to those stores in case they did wind up closing them, and just haven't gotten "caught up" yet on stocking them in some sections?

I am not convinced any store on the "keep list" is actually safe even if the lease was renegotiated. They have too many areas where now their presence is 10% or less of what it was prior to bankruptcy which means that it would be unprofitable to continue to operate when you factor in marketing costs etc. I'll keep using my local example. Although some closures predate the bankruptcy, they have now closed everything in Murrieta, Temecula, the soon-to-be-city of Winchester, Lake Elsinore, and left one store in a terrible location in Wildomar. Obviously that single Wildomar store is not viable, and I suspect that it will be added to a final closing list. There may be entire markets they leave in a similar fashion because too many landlords voted "no" on their requests and too few voted "yes." I still expect another couple of hundred closures for this reason and the vast majority will be stores that were thought to be "safe" unfortunately.

That could certainly be an issue, though not with the store I was referring to (as nothing in this area was closed during this process, being as how there are not all that many stores to begin with, as more of them were sold to Walgreens when that process was happening, as that chain had previously had a fairly small presence in this region).

More the thought was that since this one store seemed to have more stock issues than the others that are in the area, perhaps it having been on one of those lists was the reason - after all, if they have had issues getting supplies, and had one store out of 6 in a given area that was the only one possibly going to close, wouldn't it make sense to send less (or not much at all) to that one store, if that helped keep the other five better stocked (and at the same time have less items to sell at a markdown or pack up if they had, in fact, opted to close this one)?

[BillyGr]

The one thing they are doing that I think will hurt their reputation is the store closing sales with the liquidators. These liquidators are filling the stores up with total junk. Well, filling 4-5 aisles up with this junk. One store had an entire aisle of scrubs in little plastic food storage bags. Others had weird junk "home" items. Absurd prices on this complete garbage merchandise. I thought the stuff liquidators sent in to Kmart/Sears closing sales was junk but that stuff looked premium compared to what they are sending into Rite Aid.

Though most people should (by now) have figured out that these types of things are not being done by the chain named, and not for the actual stores they are planning to operate, so seeing them at a store that is closing wouldn't (or shouldn't) impact what people think of for other stores that are continuing to run.

[FrankMoore99]

How can this chain survive with stores that look like this?

What is going on here?

These are busy stores. I went into a couple obviously not busy stores that did not quite look this bad.

Those stores look like newer stores. This was a lot older store that is now closed, but when I went a few months ago, there were sections that were blocked off, and they had no Thrifty Ice Cream. Since it received no remodel and didn't have a Thrifty Ice Cream counter and low inventory and there is another Rite Aid in town that still operates and two other drug stores (CVS and Walgreens(which recently closed that location. Maybe an indicator that Rite Aid was the busier drug store.)) and a Walmart, Target, and Safeway with a pharmacy, why did Rite Aid keep operating it till January of this year and even received the new sign, while the location in Cameron Park that was brand new received nothing and closed two years earlier. That is surprising to see newer and busier stores struggle with this inventory. The stores look very nice inside, especially for a drug store. https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... g-set.html

Thinking about it, from reading this Reddit post:

Was the Rite Aid on Fair Lane in Placerville slated to get the store of the future remodel in 2020 or 21??

[ClownLoach]

How can this chain survive with stores that look like this?

What is going on here?

These are busy stores. I went into a couple obviously not busy stores that did not quite look this bad.

Those stores look like newer stores. This was a lot older store that is now closed, but when I went a few months ago, there were sections that were blocked off, and they had no Thrifty Ice Cream. Since it received no remodel and didn't have a Thrifty Ice Cream counter and low inventory and there is another Rite Aid in town that still operates and two other drug stores (CVS and Walgreens(which recently closed that location. Maybe an indicator that Rite Aid was the busier drug store.)) and a Walmart, Target, and Safeway with a pharmacy, why did Rite Aid keep operating it till January of this year and even received the new sign, while the location in Cameron Park that was brand new received nothing and closed two years earlier. That is surprising to see newer and busier stores struggle with this inventory. The stores look very nice inside, especially for a drug store. https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... g-set.html

Thinking about it, from reading this Reddit post:

Was the Rite Aid on Fair Lane in Placerville slated to get the store of the future remodel in 2020 or 21??

First off, their "store of the future" actual site was far from these videos. It was plain, cheap quality material and a massive downgrade from the previous "Wellness" decor with nice floors, recessed indirect can lights and in some cases glitzy tile floors you'd expect to see at a Bloomingdales. Obviously there was not going to be some wacky pharmacy desk with a chemistry set on it or an herbalist with a bunch of people in a yoga studio. That is advertising crap. Even the most recent Rite Aid commercials weren't shot in a store at all, it's an obvious sound stage and backdrop that doesn't match any actual store.

This was really not a remodel program when they were bankrupted. It seemed to still be in testing with small clusters of stores being evaluated with different versions of the new decor. A few stores in Idaho, a few in Virginia Beach have been mentioned here as small clusters of these remodeled sites. They were not ready to remodel anything and even if they weren't bankrupt I would have expected this massive rethink of the assortment and merchandise to take four or five years of testing in small store groups before they could even think about launching any scale remodel campaign. If this thing was even any good I would have expected the best parts to just get rolled out immediately and never actually see a full remodel of stores until 2030ish.

Near me there was a store built in this new format that I love to criticize in Winchester near Temecula. (Note if you go looking for pictures you're going to find two stores on the same street and unfortunately confused reviews swapped pictures between both) This new store sat fully built and sign covered for almost two years before finally opening last year and showcasing how this alleged Store Of The Future was a complete fraud. I don't exaggerate when I say half the floor was completely and totally empty of anything, just bare floor. It had a bizarre and useless cafe seating area at the front from end to end that wasted about 10% of the sales floor. The entire store itself was about the size of a modern Sephora, maybe 10,000 Sq ft. The lighting was the cheapest LED rectangular fixture available and cheap ceiling tiles. Flooring was some kind of bizarre rubberized linoleum that reminded me of those ones you'd see with round circles in stale old department stores like Sears, similar material to the famous dimpled red floor from Circuit City. Again a shocking drop in quality from Rite Aid who had a history of building better quality drugstores than the utilitarian CVS and Walgreens.

The worst thing about this program is that there was no selection of merchandise to speak of. Maybe 9 flavors of Thrifty Ice Cream behind one single freezer door. Tiny little fixtures that were only 4 feet high for the first couple of sections by the center aisle that didn't hold anything. The assortment was comically bad, I am not exaggerating once again when I say that the 7 Eleven gas station out front had a larger food and snack department. The grocery outlet next door had a better selection of shampoo, conditioner, and household goods. There was less overall Healthcare products than you would see in a Walmart or Target, probably a third of the selection or less of a typical Walgreens. I cannot understate how bad this store was, and if any large swath of stores had been remodeled to it they would have had high double digit sales declines that would have dragged the entire company negative and caused investors to demand the program be killed. It was really that bad.

So Store of the Future really wasn't even a viable option to remodel anything into because it required eliminating virtually all of the merchandise. To really make a Wellness store match I think you'd have to rip out quality lighting and flooring and replace it with the crap grade stuff used that looked like a clearance buy. There was no high tech looking pharmacy area in these stores, a major downgrade in the asthetic of the store, and I cannot imagine that the few stores that were remodeled didn't lose hundreds of thousands of dollars liquidating the majority of the merchandise to have most of the fixtures taken out and a few sparsely stocked teensy little racks replace them.

At this point it appears most have closed, although since none of them ever looked anything like the prototype design one could argue that they never opened or remodeled anything to the concept in the first place. If Winchester has finally closed its doors in the last week or so then it closed as the newest store in the chain too. Multiple postings on Reddit and elsewhere indicate everyone who was involved with this bogus store of the future project was fired. There was nothing wrong with the existing Wellness remodel program that hadn't even made it's way through most of the chain. Since you like to ask about why a store wasn't remodeled, this is a different case because Rite Aid was previously claiming that they intended to remodel as close to the entire chain as possible to Wellness because it was proven to increase their sales volume and profit margins. They never got finished with Wellness and the only legitimate reason I can think of to pause would be that they might have needed to hire consultants to get the cost down slightly since they were only using top end quality signs, graphics, and lighting. But then they suddenly announced Store of the Future without any actual data or information about its performance, nor any stated reason why the previously touted Wellness program was being replaced.

I really think it was "vaporware" to get poorly educated investors to think that the new CEO and her team were innovating when they really had no clue what to change about their assortments, layouts, etc. And then they remodeled a handful of stores just to try to figure out what frankly should have been determined before they ever announced anything to their investors. I am sure consultants were also involved who were paid a fortune, and worse I see no evidence that any of the remodeled or new stores looked anything like the investor presentation with blackout warehouse ceilings, hanging wood gazebo like structures, and that techy looking pharmacy with a giant video wall and such.

It's dead, and good riddance.

[FrankMoore99]

Those stores look like newer stores. This was a lot older store that is now closed, but when I went a few months ago, there were sections that were blocked off, and they had no Thrifty Ice Cream. Since it received no remodel and didn't have a Thrifty Ice Cream counter and low inventory and there is another Rite Aid in town that still operates and two other drug stores (CVS and Walgreens(which recently closed that location. Maybe an indicator that Rite Aid was the busier drug store.)) and a Walmart, Target, and Safeway with a pharmacy, why did Rite Aid keep operating it till January of this year and even received the new sign, while the location in Cameron Park that was brand new received nothing and closed two years earlier. That is surprising to see newer and busier stores struggle with this inventory. The stores look very nice inside, especially for a drug store. https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... g-set.html

Thinking about it, from reading this Reddit post:

Was the Rite Aid on Fair Lane in Placerville slated to get the store of the future remodel in 2020 or 21??

First off, their "store of the future" actual site was far from these videos. It was plain, cheap quality material and a massive downgrade from the previous "Wellness" decor with nice floors, recessed indirect can lights and in some cases glitzy tile floors you'd expect to see at a Bloomingdales. Obviously there was not going to be some wacky pharmacy desk with a chemistry set on it or an herbalist with a bunch of people in a yoga studio. That is advertising crap. Even the most recent Rite Aid commercials weren't shot in a store at all, it's an obvious sound stage and backdrop that doesn't match any actual store.

This was really not a remodel program when they were bankrupted. It seemed to still be in testing with small clusters of stores being evaluated with different versions of the new decor. A few stores in Idaho, a few in Virginia Beach have been mentioned here as small clusters of these remodeled sites. They were not ready to remodel anything and even if they weren't bankrupt I would have expected this massive rethink of the assortment and merchandise to take four or five years of testing in small store groups before they could even think about launching any scale remodel campaign. If this thing was even any good I would have expected the best parts to just get rolled out immediately and never actually see a full remodel of stores until 2030ish.

Near me there was a store built in this new format that I love to criticize in Winchester near Temecula. (Note if you go looking for pictures you're going to find two stores on the same street and unfortunately confused reviews swapped pictures between both) This new store sat fully built and sign covered for almost two years before finally opening last year and showcasing how this alleged Store Of The Future was a complete fraud. I don't exaggerate when I say half the floor was completely and totally empty of anything, just bare floor. It had a bizarre and useless cafe seating area at the front from end to end that wasted about 10% of the sales floor. The entire store itself was about the size of a modern Sephora, maybe 10,000 Sq ft. The lighting was the cheapest LED rectangular fixture available and cheap ceiling tiles. Flooring was some kind of bizarre rubberized linoleum that reminded me of those ones you'd see with round circles in stale old department stores like Sears, similar material to the famous dimpled red floor from Circuit City. Again a shocking drop in quality from Rite Aid who had a history of building better quality drugstores than the utilitarian CVS and Walgreens.

The worst thing about this program is that there was no selection of merchandise to speak of. Maybe 9 flavors of Thrifty Ice Cream behind one single freezer door. Tiny little fixtures that were only 4 feet high for the first couple of sections by the center aisle that didn't hold anything. The assortment was comically bad, I am not exaggerating once again when I say that the 7 Eleven gas station out front had a larger food and snack department. The grocery outlet next door had a better selection of shampoo, conditioner, and household goods. There was less overall Healthcare products than you would see in a Walmart or Target, probably a third of the selection or less of a typical Walgreens. I cannot understate how bad this store was, and if any large swath of stores had been remodeled to it they would have had high double digit sales declines that would have dragged the entire company negative and caused investors to demand the program be killed. It was really that bad.

So Store of the Future really wasn't even a viable option to remodel anything into because it required eliminating virtually all of the merchandise. To really make a Wellness store match I think you'd have to rip out quality lighting and flooring and replace it with the crap grade stuff used that looked like a clearance buy. There was no high tech looking pharmacy area in these stores, a major downgrade in the asthetic of the store, and I cannot imagine that the few stores that were remodeled didn't lose hundreds of thousands of dollars liquidating the majority of the merchandise to have most of the fixtures taken out and a few sparsely stocked teensy little racks replace them.

At this point it appears most have closed, although since none of them ever looked anything like the prototype design one could argue that they never opened or remodeled anything to the concept in the first place. If Winchester has finally closed its doors in the last week or so then it closed as the newest store in the chain too. Multiple postings on Reddit and elsewhere indicate everyone who was involved with this bogus store of the future project was fired. There was nothing wrong with the existing Wellness remodel program that hadn't even made it's way through most of the chain. Since you like to ask about why a store wasn't remodeled, this is a different case because Rite Aid was previously claiming that they intended to remodel as close to the entire chain as possible to Wellness because it was proven to increase their sales volume and profit margins. They never got finished with Wellness and the only legitimate reason I can think of to pause would be that they might have needed to hire consultants to get the cost down slightly since they were only using top end quality signs, graphics, and lighting. But then they suddenly announced Store of the Future without any actual data or information about its performance, nor any stated reason why the previously touted Wellness program was being replaced.

I really think it was "vaporware" to get poorly educated investors to think that the new CEO and her team were innovating when they really had no clue what to change about their assortments, layouts, etc. And then they remodeled a handful of stores just to try to figure out what frankly should have been determined before they ever announced anything to their investors. I am sure consultants were also involved who were paid a fortune, and worse I see no evidence that any of the remodeled or new stores looked anything like the investor presentation with blackout warehouse ceilings, hanging wood gazebo like structures, and that techy looking pharmacy with a giant video wall and such.

It's dead, and good riddance.

But was the Fair Lane store that closed set to get this remodel? And was it set to get the Wellness remodel back in the mid to late 2010s??

[FrankMoore99]

What is planned to replace the Fair Lane Rite Aid?? What do you think would work for this space?? https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... -rite.html

[ClownLoach]

Thinking about it, from reading this Reddit post:

Was the Rite Aid on Fair Lane in Placerville slated to get the store of the future remodel in 2020 or 21??

First off, their "store of the future" actual site was far from these videos. It was plain, cheap quality material and a massive downgrade from the previous "Wellness" decor with nice floors, recessed indirect can lights and in some cases glitzy tile floors you'd expect to see at a Bloomingdales. Obviously there was not going to be some wacky pharmacy desk with a chemistry set on it or an herbalist with a bunch of people in a yoga studio. That is advertising crap. Even the most recent Rite Aid commercials weren't shot in a store at all, it's an obvious sound stage and backdrop that doesn't match any actual store.

This was really not a remodel program when they were bankrupted. It seemed to still be in testing with small clusters of stores being evaluated with different versions of the new decor. A few stores in Idaho, a few in Virginia Beach have been mentioned here as small clusters of these remodeled sites. They were not ready to remodel anything and even if they weren't bankrupt I would have expected this massive rethink of the assortment and merchandise to take four or five years of testing in small store groups before they could even think about launching any scale remodel campaign. If this thing was even any good I would have expected the best parts to just get rolled out immediately and never actually see a full remodel of stores until 2030ish.

Near me there was a store built in this new format that I love to criticize in Winchester near Temecula. (Note if you go looking for pictures you're going to find two stores on the same street and unfortunately confused reviews swapped pictures between both) This new store sat fully built and sign covered for almost two years before finally opening last year and showcasing how this alleged Store Of The Future was a complete fraud. I don't exaggerate when I say half the floor was completely and totally empty of anything, just bare floor. It had a bizarre and useless cafe seating area at the front from end to end that wasted about 10% of the sales floor. The entire store itself was about the size of a modern Sephora, maybe 10,000 Sq ft. The lighting was the cheapest LED rectangular fixture available and cheap ceiling tiles. Flooring was some kind of bizarre rubberized linoleum that reminded me of those ones you'd see with round circles in stale old department stores like Sears, similar material to the famous dimpled red floor from Circuit City. Again a shocking drop in quality from Rite Aid who had a history of building better quality drugstores than the utilitarian CVS and Walgreens.

The worst thing about this program is that there was no selection of merchandise to speak of. Maybe 9 flavors of Thrifty Ice Cream behind one single freezer door. Tiny little fixtures that were only 4 feet high for the first couple of sections by the center aisle that didn't hold anything. The assortment was comically bad, I am not exaggerating once again when I say that the 7 Eleven gas station out front had a larger food and snack department. The grocery outlet next door had a better selection of shampoo, conditioner, and household goods. There was less overall Healthcare products than you would see in a Walmart or Target, probably a third of the selection or less of a typical Walgreens. I cannot understate how bad this store was, and if any large swath of stores had been remodeled to it they would have had high double digit sales declines that would have dragged the entire company negative and caused investors to demand the program be killed. It was really that bad.

So Store of the Future really wasn't even a viable option to remodel anything into because it required eliminating virtually all of the merchandise. To really make a Wellness store match I think you'd have to rip out quality lighting and flooring and replace it with the crap grade stuff used that looked like a clearance buy. There was no high tech looking pharmacy area in these stores, a major downgrade in the asthetic of the store, and I cannot imagine that the few stores that were remodeled didn't lose hundreds of thousands of dollars liquidating the majority of the merchandise to have most of the fixtures taken out and a few sparsely stocked teensy little racks replace them.

At this point it appears most have closed, although since none of them ever looked anything like the prototype design one could argue that they never opened or remodeled anything to the concept in the first place. If Winchester has finally closed its doors in the last week or so then it closed as the newest store in the chain too. Multiple postings on Reddit and elsewhere indicate everyone who was involved with this bogus store of the future project was fired. There was nothing wrong with the existing Wellness remodel program that hadn't even made it's way through most of the chain. Since you like to ask about why a store wasn't remodeled, this is a different case because Rite Aid was previously claiming that they intended to remodel as close to the entire chain as possible to Wellness because it was proven to increase their sales volume and profit margins. They never got finished with Wellness and the only legitimate reason I can think of to pause would be that they might have needed to hire consultants to get the cost down slightly since they were only using top end quality signs, graphics, and lighting. But then they suddenly announced Store of the Future without any actual data or information about its performance, nor any stated reason why the previously touted Wellness program was being replaced.

I really think it was "vaporware" to get poorly educated investors to think that the new CEO and her team were innovating when they really had no clue what to change about their assortments, layouts, etc. And then they remodeled a handful of stores just to try to figure out what frankly should have been determined before they ever announced anything to their investors. I am sure consultants were also involved who were paid a fortune, and worse I see no evidence that any of the remodeled or new stores looked anything like the investor presentation with blackout warehouse ceilings, hanging wood gazebo like structures, and that techy looking pharmacy with a giant video wall and such.

It's dead, and good riddance.

But was the Fair Lane store that closed set to get this remodel? And was it set to get the Wellness remodel back in the mid to late 2010s??

Wellness was intended to reach every store in the chain.