Rite Aid Store Closings

[ClownLoach]

I hate 45 degree stores regardless of who operates it. But Rite Aid somehow was even worse because of the meandering path that intersected the store in a jagged manner. Just the worst layout imaginable, and I've done enough space planning to be able to say that this layout reduces capacity instead of increasing it. Never understand why they signed up for 45 degrees.

The fact that they are still adding long lease period closed stores to the surplus list just leads me further down the road of expecting a Chapter 11. If it's what we perceive as a "good store that seemed busy enough and didn't have shrink problems" then it probably had rent that was too rich for RAD. I suspect that they are on the phone with each closed store landlord and have probably given them a deadline to work out a deal on a low budget lease severance and have basically told them if they don't agree they can't promise they won't put that lease into a Chapter 11 where the landlord could lose control of terms and who goes in the building (if they didn't put in a Irvine Co type clause of right of first refusal even in bankruptcy). The threat probably is that if enough landlords don't agree to sever then the collective lot of them gets cast into the Chapter 11 process. Nothing else is sustainable financially.

[storewanderer]

I hate 45 degree stores regardless of who operates it. But Rite Aid somehow was even worse because of the meandering path that intersected the store in a jagged manner. Just the worst layout imaginable, and I've done enough space planning to be able to say that this layout reduces capacity instead of increasing it. Never understand why they signed up for 45 degrees.

The fact that they are still adding long lease period closed stores to the surplus list just leads me further down the road of expecting a Chapter 11. I suspect that they are on the phone with each landlord and have probably given them a deadline to work out a deal on a low budget lease severance and have basically told them if they don't agree they can't promise they won't put that lease into a Chapter 11 where the landlord could lose control of terms and who goes in the building (if they didn't put in a Irvine Co type clause of right of first refusal even in bankruptcy). The threat probably is that if enough landlords don't agree to sever then the collective lot of them gets cast into the Chapter 11 process. Nothing else is sustainable financially.

I thought the Payless 45 degree layout was the absolute worst and most confusing layout. Not sure how many of those there were down in SoCal but I am pretty sure there were a few. Rite Aid actually "straight aisled" most of those stores either by way of Wellness remodels or by way of the old 00's low budget remodels. The RA1 layout (late 90's prototype) was interesting: the 12k square foot east coast version, was not really confusing per se since the store was so small. The 17k square foot west coast version was a bit more confusing due to the store being larger. The RA1 layout had very negative customer feedback out west. When Longs took over RA1 Stores in Reno area they straight-aisled all of them and CVS kept them straight aisled as well in the CVS conversions.

Did you ever see the Osco/Sav-On layout that tried to mimic the 45 degree Payless? This was in the mid 90's. They took a store in Reno that was an old straight aisles Skaggs and did this miserable remodel to it. Customer feedback was horrible. I never saw them do another store like this one. They put a little pod of aisles in the middle of the store that ran vertical with candy, cards, and cosmetics. Off to the right on the right wall was pharmacy (at an angle) and then they had these horizontal aisles with the core drug categories (OTC, Vitamins). Then at the back right corner they had aisles that ran 45 degrees and some angled wall space (they built a pharmacy waiting room behind it) and the 45 degree aisles contained shampoo and baby items. Then there was a set of vertical aisles back there as well that had (from right to left) seasonal, office supplies, hard goods auto/home, paper/pet/cleaning, groceries). Then in the back left corner was more aisles that ran 45 degrees and this was a very expansive liquor department.

[storewanderer]

Looks like the CA employees sued over having to buy blue shirts and khakis.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-la ... l-approval

I am confused why this even happened- Rite Aid in CA back in the 00's used to have a uniform polo shirt for the employees only in CA. I was told it was part of the union agreement they got a shirt. The Rite Aids elsewhere (NV, OR, etc.) the employees wore whatever and just put a blue Rite Aid logo vest over it.

Does Target provide reimbursement for uniforms in CA? They are another who forces a specific shirt color/type and pant color/type...

No wonder Wal Mart went back to vests...

[veteran+]

GOOD for those employees!!!

[storewanderer]

GOOD for those employees!!!

What happened to negotiating the shirt benefit through the union? Why did the union cave on that? Then allow this to happen. If the union was looking out for the best interests of the employees and the company, they never would have let the old shirt benefit be taken away. They would have said in negotiations, no, it is the law that you telling the staff to wear a blue polo is a uniform and you have to pay for it so you may as well just keep the shirt benefit you already have to remain in compliance with state law. Almost like the union let the shirt benefit go away on purpose, then next pops up a litigation that takes years to wind its ways through the courts and gets a benefit for the employees that never should have gone away in the first place. In the process the lawyers get millions of dollars they otherwise would not have gotten, had the old shirt benefit just remained in place the entire time.

How many polo shirts could $12 million have bought wholesale? These probably wholesale at $3 each (given I see Gilden/Gildan polos at Dollar Tree sometimes which look like stock uniform type polos) so these idiots (sorry but really) could have bought 4 million polo shirts with what it cost to run this lawsuit through the courts and settle it. And the employees could have had their provided "uniform" all of these years seamlessly.

The only "good" here went to the lawyers.

Also- it needs to be applied fairly to ALL retailers.

If a retailer says they have a dress code of red polo shirt with no print on it and khaki pants, that too constitutes a uniform and that retailer should also have to pay its employees for the clothing.

[storewanderer]

Went into both Auburn Stores today. Moderate traffic at both. Bell Road is quite well stocked. Bell Road has a few empty aisles in the back corner but the other aisles all have merchandise on them (some pretty creative spreading out of items going on). Thrifty had multiple pallets of summer seasonal from a delivery over a week ago that had not yet been stocked and did have noticeably more out of stocks throughout the store.

Can't speak for CVS but stopped at the Walgreens and the store was a mess and it was deserted save for a trickle of 2-3 people coming and going from pharmacy. Significantly more foot traffic at both Rite Aids. Pharmacy in Bell Road unit looked busy. Most of the traffic in the Thrifty unit seemed to be buying beer and not much else. Had two cashiers open. A couple people buying ice cream also and pharmacy had steady traffic but no lines.

[veteran+]

GOOD for those employees!!!

What happened to negotiating the shirt benefit through the union? Why did the union cave on that? Then allow this to happen. If the union was looking out for the best interests of the employees and the company, they never would have let the old shirt benefit be taken away. They would have said in negotiations, no, it is the law that you telling the staff to wear a blue polo is a uniform and you have to pay for it so you may as well just keep the shirt benefit you already have to remain in compliance with state law. Almost like the union let the shirt benefit go away on purpose, then next pops up a litigation that takes years to wind its ways through the courts and gets a benefit for the employees that never should have gone away in the first place. In the process the lawyers get millions of dollars they otherwise would not have gotten, had the old shirt benefit just remained in place the entire time.

How many polo shirts could $12 million have bought wholesale? These probably wholesale at $3 each (given I see Gilden/Gildan polos at Dollar Tree sometimes which look like stock uniform type polos) so these idiots (sorry but really) could have bought 4 million polo shirts with what it cost to run this lawsuit through the courts and settle it. And the employees could have had their provided "uniform" all of these years seamlessly.

The only "good" here went to the lawyers.

Also- it needs to be applied fairly to ALL retailers.

If a retailer says they have a dress code of red polo shirt with no print on it and khaki pants, that too constitutes a uniform and that retailer should also have to pay its employees for the clothing.

Sometimes Union members want the freedom of lax dress codes because they don't like the "uniforms" (material, fit, etc). The Union and the company agree to relax the code. The company saves a lot of money.

Down the road the company decides to reinstate a uniform (a new image campaign) and wants the employee to pay for it.

I am not saying this is what happened here but I have seen this occur.

[storewanderer]

Sometimes Union members want the freedom of lax dress codes because they don't like the "uniforms" (material, fit, etc). The Union and the company agree to relax the code. The company saves a lot of money.

Down the road the company decides to reinstate a uniform (a new image campaign) and wants the employee to pay for it.

I am not saying this is what happened here but I have seen this occur.

The biggest problem I've seen is they say yes you get a uniform, then they give you one store issued shirt. If you want more you have to pay (usually was an amount similar to a shirt like that in a store; $18 etc.). Seems to me you need ideally 5 shirts (one per work day). It is also in the store's best interests to ensure the uniform shirts are clean and taken care of and it is tough to use the same shirt all week in a highly physical job with various climate experiences (freezer, parking lot, oven, etc.).

I think the CA Rite Aids have always had either the gray Rite Aid shirt or then they told the employees to wear blue polo shirts. I don't recall the CA units ever going back to the blue vests. I don't remember when exactly the stores outside CA switched to the blue polo shirts but it has been a while. May have been when they took Eckerd over.

[veteran+]

I don't know if this has change but when I managed Union stores full timers got four shirts and part timers got 2. We always gave them more within reason for free.

BTW...............same practice at non Union shops.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

The uniform fiasco can't be blamed on the current CEO,this began brewing under Mary sammons.They switched us to grey polo shirts only to revert to the blue smocks which stuck until they switched to the buy-it-yourself 'team colors' under John Standley (yes, I'm affected by the class action involving California employees).

As for the unfinished seasonal truckload in south Auburn,blame that on labor hours being cut chainwide for weeks(refer to the Rite Aid reddit for a detailed discussion).

Also, according to a tweet as well as the Yelp listing,the lights will soon go out in the last remaining downtown Portland location on alder Street, Oregon's first known casualty of the 145-store closure wave(hopefully the chances of that number of growing remains lower than there being another Super Bowl that caps of an unbeaten season).I'm beginning to wonder if they're simply fleeing downtown areas in general.NYC has been hit hard in general,but especially in Manhattan which is down to a dozen active locations (of those only Liberty Street is 24 hours to any extent).

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