Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Alpha8472
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

Many of the employees in the pharmacy probably realize that the company may not be around much longer. If their store might close, many of them have decided to find jobs elsewhere. This is causing an even bigger staffing shortage. I am sure many of the pharmacists have already quit for jobs at other chains.

If Rite Aid shrinks to such a small number of stores, perhaps the antitrust people will approve another chain buying the few Rite Aid stores that remain.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by BillyGr »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 31st, 2022, 11:08 am Many of the employees in the pharmacy probably realize that the company may not be around much longer. If their store might close, many of them have decided to find jobs elsewhere. This is causing an even bigger staffing shortage. I am sure many of the pharmacists have already quit for jobs at other chains.

If Rite Aid shrinks to such a small number of stores, perhaps the antitrust people will approve another chain buying the few Rite Aid stores that remain.
Not sure it really has anything to do with this brand, as we have the same here in some Walgreens (the weekday only pharmacy), just a shortage of help overall no matter what store.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: July 31st, 2022, 11:58 am

Not sure it really has anything to do with this brand, as we have the same here in some Walgreens (the weekday only pharmacy), just a shortage of help overall no matter what store.
It absolutely has something to do with this brand.

This is a situation where Rite Aid has a store here and there (for example: Truckee, CA and Gardnerville, NV). They have historically been strong high volume pharmacies. They are now only open Monday-Friday, until 6 PM, and closed weekends. In Truckee, Safeway and CVS are on reduced schedules but they are at least open 7 days a week and until 7 PM or 8 PM on weeknights. In Gardnerville, again, you have Wal Mart, Walgreens, Smiths pharmacies all open 7 days a week and past 6 PM most nights; Raleys pharmacy is closed Sunday and not open very late, but that type of schedule has been something Raleys has done for decades with pharmacy so it is nothing new there.

Now, only being open 5 days a week, until 6 PM, tells me Rite Aid must only have one pharmacist on staff at these stores. How does it get this bad? If that one person becomes overly stressed out due to the lack of help then quits, then what? Do you finally have an excuse to close the store down for good because it is "hard to staff?" These stores have been in business for 30+ years. Retail is always "hard to staff."
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote:
BillyGr wrote: July 31st, 2022, 11:58 am

Not sure it really has anything to do with this brand, as we have the same here in some Walgreens (the weekday only pharmacy), just a shortage of help overall no matter what store.
It absolutely has something to do with this brand.

This is a situation where Rite Aid has a store here and there (for example: Truckee, CA and Gardnerville, NV). They have historically been strong high volume pharmacies. They are now only open Monday-Friday, until 6 PM, and closed weekends. In Truckee, Safeway and CVS are on reduced schedules but they are at least open 7 days a week and until 7 PM or 8 PM on weeknights. In Gardnerville, again, you have Wal Mart, Walgreens, Smiths pharmacies all open 7 days a week and past 6 PM most nights; Raleys pharmacy is closed Sunday and not open very late, but that type of schedule has been something Raleys has done for decades with pharmacy so it is nothing new there.

Now, only being open 5 days a week, until 6 PM, tells me Rite Aid must only have one pharmacist on staff at these stores. How does it get this bad? If that one person becomes overly stressed out due to the lack of help then quits, then what? Do you finally have an excuse to close the store down for good because it is "hard to staff?" These stores have been in business for 30+ years. Retail is always "hard to staff."
The problem at 5409 sunrise has primarily been at the front end(we have four new cashiers that we recently hired but are still short on management which explains intermittently shortened store hours).The pharmacy has been decently staffed for the past year or two.For the longest time(my first couple years at my current store)we've had only one regular pharmacy tech(since retired).We currently have one regular pharmacy tech, another in training,one shared with manzanita,and a pharmacy cashier in addition to two regular pharmacists.In fact,7900 Arcadia had more consistent pharmacy staffing during its operational existence.BTW,6661 Auburn lists full normal hours though their pharmacy may or may not be completely back to normal after that drunk driver incident.
It appears Rite Aid's end game the past year is to just run what were good solid stores into the total ground, and when that still doesn't work to justify closing the store for good which they obviously want to do, start doing things like close the pharmacy on Saturday and Sunday, and close the store at 6 PM, to really go in for the kill. Starting to think that Walgreens or Safeway merger would have been a better outcome at this point.
That's what I'm trying NOT to think could be happening to 5409 sunrise.It did get decent windfall from the Arcadia Drive closure early on only for the momentum level off within a year or two.On top of the staffing transitions,the store was passed up for wellness remodels and has been in disrepair for years(the leaky roof only part of it).While newbies are finally being hired it just doesn't seem this store is out of the woods,barring a positive turnaround on the company's part that doesn't involve a merger.

Side note:3 days ago marked the 24th anniversary of being hired at 7000 sunrise(predecessor operation of 7900 Arcadia)which itself happened four days after my 22nd birthday;and despite the corporate uncertainty I will continue to chase milestones as long as I'm able to(next year would mark 25 years,and I'm already thinking ahead to 30 years and beyond).

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: July 31st, 2022, 6:01 pm The pharmacy has been decently staffed for the past year or two.For the longest time(my first couple years at my current store)we've had only one regular pharmacy tech(since retired).We currently have one regular pharmacy tech, another in training,one shared with manzanita,and a pharmacy cashier in addition to two regular pharmacists.In fact,7900 Arcadia had more consistent pharmacy staffing during its operational existence.BTW,6661 Auburn lists full normal hours though their pharmacy may or may not be completely back to normal after that drunk driver incident.



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It is good in the larger areas, they have enough staffing to keep pharmacy going because when you look at things over the past couple years with COVID, tests, vaccines, the pharmacy becomes a lot more relevant to a lot more people a lot more often than before.

It has always been difficult to staff the rural pharmacies. It just seems like it has gone from difficult to, barely operating, at this point.

I think the situation on Sunrise is somewhat odd in general. When you look at the former Longs way up in Roseville, it also hasn't been remodeled (and needs it- it still looks like Longs in there, and not even a modern Longs, unless someone is trying to keep a museum of Longs alive, it is past due time to remodel). The Sunrise/Arcadia Store was never remodeled but looked fairly fresh inside given it was built as a RA1. The other Sunrise Store was likely not remodeled due to the limbo in general of having 3 stores rather close together. My thought is once the Sunrise/Arcadia closed, the other two Sunrise stores should have received a Wellness remodel. But given the timing, that didn't happen. I think the other Sunrise Store could have also been potentially downsized in a Wellness remodel as well, and given the landlord now has Amazon Fresh coming in, it is questionable if a downsize is still an option or something the landlord would like to entertain or not. But that store is well positioned at a super busy intersection and seems like a store worth keeping. The potential negotiation regarding a downsize may be what stops a remodel there. If I had to guess what stops a remodel on the former Longs, it may be the fact that it hardly has any business. I have no clue how that store is viable. Also I don't think Roseville Square ever received a Wellness remodel either, I think it still has the Customer World interior.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: July 31st, 2022, 12:10 pm
BillyGr wrote: July 31st, 2022, 11:58 am

Not sure it really has anything to do with this brand, as we have the same here in some Walgreens (the weekday only pharmacy), just a shortage of help overall no matter what store.
It absolutely has something to do with this brand.

This is a situation where Rite Aid has a store here and there (for example: Truckee, CA and Gardnerville, NV). They have historically been strong high volume pharmacies. They are now only open Monday-Friday, until 6 PM, and closed weekends. In Truckee, Safeway and CVS are on reduced schedules but they are at least open 7 days a week and until 7 PM or 8 PM on weeknights. In Gardnerville, again, you have Wal Mart, Walgreens, Smiths pharmacies all open 7 days a week and past 6 PM most nights; Raleys pharmacy is closed Sunday and not open very late, but that type of schedule has been something Raleys has done for decades with pharmacy so it is nothing new there.

Now, only being open 5 days a week, until 6 PM, tells me Rite Aid must only have one pharmacist on staff at these stores. How does it get this bad? If that one person becomes overly stressed out due to the lack of help then quits, then what? Do you finally have an excuse to close the store down for good because it is "hard to staff?" These stores have been in business for 30+ years. Retail is always "hard to staff."
My point was that it wasn't JUST Rite Aid doing this (maybe in that particular area, but not overall as the examples I pointed out are with WALGREENS stores). They also never did that in the past (at least in the stores they had, nor did those stores do it when they were Rite Aid before Walgreens bought them), which is why it seems to be a current situation thing with the lack of people to work.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: August 1st, 2022, 11:58 am

My point was that it wasn't JUST Rite Aid doing this (maybe in that particular area, but not overall as the examples I pointed out are with WALGREENS stores). They also never did that in the past (at least in the stores they had, nor did those stores do it when they were Rite Aid before Walgreens bought them), which is why it seems to be a current situation thing with the lack of people to work.
All chains are doing it. It just seems like Rite Aid is doing this more than other chains. Maybe it is because they have more rural stores and those are particularly hard to staff.

If Walgreens does this at one location, there is another one nearby that is open, so what. And to be honest, I don't really care if Walgreens has so little staff they have to close every pharmacy in a metro area on weekends and lose a bunch of scripts as a result (but this hasn't happened... because Walgreens still has enough staff to at least keep some pharmacies open in a given area every day). Because that is the highly profitable Walgreens company's problem and they can deal with it and absorb the losses.

I do care about what happens with Rite Aid, because I have been rooting for Rite Aid for the past 25 years, and the chain is not in a condition that I feel they can successfully take this lost revenue and reputational damage from not providing consistent and reliable service. Closing a few hours early is one thing. That is an inconvenience but it is not a deal breaker. Closing a few hours early some days and for the entire day other days... not really going to work.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by reymann »

Problem is that the drug store industry is shifting away from brick & mortar at this point. I feel like rite aid will eventually get bought by private equity or possibly consolidate with albertsons and close any rite aid that is near an albertsons or safeway store and maybe use the rite aid and thrifty properties for their stores.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: August 1st, 2022, 10:26 pm
BillyGr wrote: August 1st, 2022, 11:58 am

My point was that it wasn't JUST Rite Aid doing this (maybe in that particular area, but not overall as the examples I pointed out are with WALGREENS stores). They also never did that in the past (at least in the stores they had, nor did those stores do it when they were Rite Aid before Walgreens bought them), which is why it seems to be a current situation thing with the lack of people to work.
If Walgreens does this at one location, there is another one nearby that is open, so what. And to be honest, I don't really care if Walgreens has so little staff they have to close every pharmacy in a metro area on weekends and lose a bunch of scripts as a result (but this hasn't happened... because Walgreens still has enough staff to at least keep some pharmacies open in a given area every day). Because that is the highly profitable Walgreens company's problem and they can deal with it and absorb the losses.
Of the two Walgreens I am aware of, for one there are a couple others not far away. The second, however, is in a small town where they are the only pharmacy chain (the supermarket in town does have one also). The next two nearest Walgreens stores are at least a 15-minute trip in different directions, and one of those two is the other one also not doing weekend hours. So, anyone from that town needing a Walgreens pharmacy would be looking at 15 minutes one direction, and probably more like 20ish the other.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

Looks like one of the initial small stores to open has been identified.
https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/02/bridgew ... macy-town/
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