Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: October 4th, 2022, 4:31 pm

Rocklin granite drive was Payless as far back as at least 1984 while the parent center (Rocklin square)dates from at least 1981 as the Safeway originally had signage predating the ribbon leaf era(it has received a lifestyle remodel though I can't speak for whether it still has that decor package).

Granite Bay/4130 Douglas never opened.It was planned to be a Payless Drug hybrid store by Thrifty Payless (with the same format 5409 sunrise had as a Payless),but it was mothballed by RAD which obviously opted for the freestanding store strategy.The elk Grove Florin/calvine site in the then not yet built Safeway center was similarly mothballed (Long's ended up being the drugstore in that center)in favor for the site across the street that became 8368 elk Grove Florin (opened 2000 but despite getting a wellness 2.0 remodel sadly closed in February 2019 and blasphemously converted into a dollar tree).The south Davis site planned in the Safeway center there did open as RAD and remains open.

Also,self checkout remains rare with the Sacramento stores:based on receipts involved with out of area returns my store has processed,only Rancho Cordova and Rosemont are known to have self-checkouts.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
I think not opening 4130 Douglas may have turned out to be a good idea. Supposedly the Albertsons there was relatively profitable (tough to imagine how; it had the 80's interior like the old Greenback/San Juan Store did), Ralphs was a total flop upon conversion then Ralphs did their upscale remodel to the store and the remodel was very successful and it ended up being one of the top 5 volume Ralphs in NorCal (Grass Valley was always the top volume one) for a couple years until the new Safeway opened across the street which by any measure is a very nice Safeway (Genuardi's layout) and that was death for the Ralphs. Then Grocery Outlet moved into part of the Ralphs but not for long though I am not sure what the circumstances on that were. Wal Mart Neighborhood Market has the entire old Ralphs space and doesn't seem to do great there but has somewhat steady traffic (I'd be surprised if it does much more volume than Ralphs was doing at the end, but has a far lower expense structure). Albertsons supposedly owned the lot behind the store in 1999 and wanted to build a new store there but obviously that never happened and probably wouldn't have been a great idea.

The closure at Auburn Folsom/Douglas I also wonder about. That shopping center strikes me as a somewhat odd the mix of tenants present and why the grocery and drugstore both left in the 90's. I think Jumbo went under or something but Vic's IGA assumed some of those as I recall and that is a great location there... Maybe the landlord did not want a grocery and drugstore tenant mix there for some reason. That seems like it should have been a viable location for Thrifty.

Only store I know of with self checkout is South Lake Tahoe and they got them due to heavy complaints about line length/1 cashier (that is no longer an issue since traffic in the store is so low). Truckee would have also been a great candidate for self checkout but Truckee back when it had employees would often have 3 cashiers and sometimes 1 cashier would work on two registers at the same time.
User avatar
norcalriteaidclerk
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 542
Joined: August 22nd, 2010, 1:01 am
Location: 916/279 area code complex
Has thanked: 63 times
Been thanked: 42 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote:
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: October 4th, 2022, 4:31 pm

Rocklin granite drive was Payless as far back as at least 1984 while the parent center (Rocklin square)dates from at least 1981 as the Safeway originally had signage predating the ribbon leaf era(it has received a lifestyle remodel though I can't speak for whether it still has that decor package).

Granite Bay/4130 Douglas never opened.It was planned to be a Payless Drug hybrid store by Thrifty Payless (with the same format 5409 sunrise had as a Payless),but it was mothballed by RAD which obviously opted for the freestanding store strategy.The elk Grove Florin/calvine site in the then not yet built Safeway center was similarly mothballed (Long's ended up being the drugstore in that center)in favor for the site across the street that became 8368 elk Grove Florin (opened 2000 but despite getting a wellness 2.0 remodel sadly closed in February 2019 and blasphemously converted into a dollar tree).The south Davis site planned in the Safeway center there did open as RAD and remains open.

Also,self checkout remains rare with the Sacramento stores:based on receipts involved with out of area returns my store has processed,only Rancho Cordova and Rosemont are known to have self-checkouts.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
I think not opening 4130 Douglas may have turned out to be a good idea. Supposedly the Albertsons there was relatively profitable (tough to imagine how; it had the 80's interior like the old Greenback/San Juan Store did), Ralphs was a total flop upon conversion then Ralphs did their upscale remodel to the store and the remodel was very successful and it ended up being one of the top 5 volume Ralphs in NorCal (Grass Valley was always the top volume one) for a couple years until the new Safeway opened across the street which by any measure is a very nice Safeway (Genuardi's layout) and that was death for the Ralphs. Then Grocery Outlet moved into part of the Ralphs but not for long though I am not sure what the circumstances on that were. Wal Mart Neighborhood Market has the entire old Ralphs space and doesn't seem to do great there but has somewhat steady traffic (I'd be surprised if it does much more volume than Ralphs was doing at the end, but has a far lower expense structure). Albertsons supposedly owned the lot behind the store in 1999 and wanted to build a new store there but obviously that never happened and probably wouldn't have been a great idea.

The closure at Auburn Folsom/Douglas I also wonder about. That shopping center strikes me as a somewhat odd the mix of tenants present and why the grocery and drugstore both left in the 90's. I think Jumbo went under or something but Vic's IGA assumed some of those as I recall and that is a great location there... Maybe the landlord did not want a grocery and drugstore tenant mix there for some reason. That seems like it should have been a viable location for Thrifty.

Only store I know of with self checkout is South Lake Tahoe and they got them due to heavy complaints about line length/1 cashier (that is no longer an issue since traffic in the store is so low). Truckee would have also been a great candidate for self checkout but Truckee back when it had employees would often have 3 cashiers and sometimes 1 cashier would work on two registers at the same time.
The unbuilt store site you may be referring to was a planned but never built Lucky sav-on food and drug superstore at the Eureka/Sierra college intersection on the the Roseville/Granite Bay border which had been planned before Albertsons acquired American Stores (which at the time owned both Lucky and sav-on)only for it to be ultimately mothballed.The then-existing east Roseville Lucky at 1740 Santa Clara closed as Albertsons circa 2002 and has since been occupied by a Ross that replaced the Roseville square location that burned down in late 2006(a combination of electrical factors and the fact that it was previously a 1960's Macdonald's department store that was not yet subject to fire sprinkler requirements).

The Portland staffing woes continue:not only are even some suburban locations suffering,but some locations aren't having open pharmacies on Sundays (per official locator).

https://www.kptv.com/2022/10/05/over-th ... -pharmacy/

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

I see Rite Aid has brought back a book and magazine area in Gardnerville, this takes up about half of the aisle that used to be filled with clocks and electronic type items. Low traffic area of the store but certainly better than having empty shelves...

Also they have some real weird stuff for items where Big Win isn't available. Plastic cutlery from some weird generic dollar store looking label. Not sure why they didn't stick with Essential Everyday for this type of item fill in, those items looked a lot better. Also the EE skus of this cutlery are made in USA while these were made in China.
User avatar
norcalriteaidclerk
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 542
Joined: August 22nd, 2010, 1:01 am
Location: 916/279 area code complex
Has thanked: 63 times
Been thanked: 42 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote:I see Rite Aid has brought back a book and magazine area in Gardnerville, this takes up about half of the aisle that used to be filled with clocks and electronic type items. Low traffic area of the store but certainly better than having empty shelves...

Also they have some real weird stuff for items where Big Win isn't available. Plastic cutlery from some weird generic dollar store looking label. Not sure why they didn't stick with Essential Everyday for this type of item fill in, those items looked a lot better. Also the EE skus of this cutlery are made in USA while these were made in China.
I believe most local RAD locations have always sold books and magazines.I wonder if the just shifted this out of an existing aisle.

The odd sourcing of certain store brand items has persisted for roughly a year or two:In the school/office aisle there's boxed envelopes sourced from 'Kaisa USA'(http://kaisausainc.com)which also directly sell items through an Amazon Marketplace storefront.

Now,it seems that they're reinstating some sewing basics(sewing kits and safety pins)that we're previously phased out.One oddity is that the party supplies half-aisle still carries create-your-own-giftboxes from a company that may or may not still be in business based on many negative comments on that company's Facebook profile(http://zumibox.com).

Don't know if this will do anybody good,but already there's at least one shareholder class action brewing.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... e-Aid-Corp.

Don't know if this is an indicator of anything,but this misdirected store brand item confined to the backroom supplies for obvious reasons.Then again, I do recall once during the 7900 Arcadia years did a Walgreens store brand item end up in a routine warehouse delivery (don't precisely remember what it was).Image

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
Alpha8472
Posts: 3931
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

I remember my local Rite Aid got some Topco Rubbing Alcohol. I bought it just to collect the bottle.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: October 8th, 2022, 12:32 am I believe most local RAD locations have always sold books and magazines.I wonder if the just shifted this out of an existing aisle.

The odd sourcing of certain store brand items has persisted for roughly a year or two:In the school/office aisle there's boxed envelopes sourced from 'Kaisa USA'(http://kaisausainc.com)which also directly sell items through an Amazon Marketplace storefront.

Now,it seems that they're reinstating some sewing basics(sewing kits and safety pins)that we're previously phased out.One oddity is that the party supplies half-aisle still carries create-your-own-giftboxes from a company that may or may not still be in business based on many negative comments on that company's Facebook profile(http://zumibox.com).

Don't know if this will do anybody good,but already there's at least one shareholder class action brewing.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... e-Aid-Corp.


Gardnerville hasn't had books/magazines since the remodel from Customer World to Wellness until now as I recall. In the Customer World version they had those on a wall space in a very low traffic corner past/beside photo not overly different from the placement in a RA1. But in the Wellness remodel which took place in 2017, I do not recall ever seeing them. The only other possibility is they pulled them out when they did the 75% off purge to non-core categories back in 2020 but I am pretty sure that side of that aisle was historically strictly "electronics" (cords, phones, alarm clocks, etc.). This aisle faces a wall (that wall has the $1 items and had photo albums). They have had a small area with CDs/maybe DVDs random and old looking beside batteries and gift cards nearby on a different aisle, though that has been there all along.

I guess the gift boxes at least take up space, I wonder if there are a bunch sitting in the warehouses. The Customer World layout seemed to give a good amount of space/fixture to "cards and celebration" usually on a wall in a corner, adjacent to/visible from pharmacy, so maybe this is a leftover from that effort.

I see misrouted private label all the time. The other night in Smiths they had a few Whole Foods 365 Dry Pastas on their markdown rack; it is unusual to see this at Smiths, in fact, I cannot recall the last time I saw this there. Reno Smiths is supplied with dry grocery from Smiths distro in Las Vegas, perishable from Smiths distro in Utah, and non food from Kroger Peytons distro in AZ and those facilities are not used for other retailers... I do often see Save Mart Sunny Select or Supervalu Equaline items at Raleys (yet never see Raleys items at Save Mart; maybe they toss them) markdown racks, which makes sense given the shared distribution. C&S supplied stores in NorCal seem to perpetually have misrouted Kroger private label items and I've seen some Target items there too in perishable. The now closed Sierra Food IGA in Reno would put the Kroger items right on the shelf even with a shelf tag. Scolaris/Holiday usually straight to clearance. I did see Scolaris get a case of Kroger paper towels and store use them back during the COVID shortages. My understanding is they get credit from C&S for these items but C&S doesn't want them back.

I notice a redesigned private label for school/office private label is showing up at Rite Aid.

Was trying to look through photos of Gardnerville I have, but I don't have many from the Wellness decor. Only a very few: https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id= ... rdnerville
I have a lot from the Customer World and 45 Degree Payless days probably buried on the flaky Photobucket site.

https://photobucket.com/u/StoreWest/a/5 ... 89d8690fb8 maybe
or
https://photobucket.com/u/StoreWest/a/5 ... 4c78e69dee then right click open image in new tab from bottom slideshow of images to see images there... what a pain. Used to be a free site. I regret not using Yelp to host all my photos.
User avatar
norcalriteaidclerk
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 542
Joined: August 22nd, 2010, 1:01 am
Location: 916/279 area code complex
Has thanked: 63 times
Been thanked: 42 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

The refreshed 'rite aid home' brand now 'home by Rite Aid' has begun to show up on store shelves in earnest; primarily in batteries,school/office,and seasonal.

Also, though below the radar,two additional Idaho stores(in addition to McCall and downtown Boise)have been refreshed into the new look.Now only if the California rollout expands beyond the Camarillo relocation which few photos of are available.

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/bus ... 69663.html

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: October 9th, 2022, 8:58 am The refreshed 'rite aid home' brand now 'home by Rite Aid' has begun to show up on store shelves in earnest; primarily in batteries,school/office,and seasonal.

Also, though below the radar,two additional Idaho stores(in addition to McCall and downtown Boise)have been refreshed into the new look.Now only if the California rollout expands beyond the Camarillo relocation which few photos of are available.

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/bus ... 69663.html

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
I sure find it odd they do all these remodels in Idaho. Those were stores they were planning to unload to Walgreens.

It may be they do not want to mess around much with CA since CA has some of their best stores. I am not clear yet if this new format (which as I understand it cuts even more SKUs) is a good idea for larger stores or not. Other issue is the "open pharmacy" nature of the format (that would be a problem in just about any major metro area in the US), yet a few years ago this chain went and caged in many of the CA pharmacies for security reasons. I want to keep an open mind until I actually see a remodeled store. But the cynic in me says if these remodels were having strong results, we would be seeing a few dozen of them happening every quarter. The fact that we aren't....
User avatar
norcalriteaidclerk
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 542
Joined: August 22nd, 2010, 1:01 am
Location: 916/279 area code complex
Has thanked: 63 times
Been thanked: 42 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

As of this week,RAD has quietly discontinued distribution of print ad circulars to stores,however they will still delivered to customers via mail or newspapers.

Also,if there is any truth to this disturbing tweet(the storied Gower gulch Thrifty being lost to redevelopment),a coverage gap is growing in and around an area we'd least expect (west central LA including Hollywood).Makes me wonder if any location is safe anymore,not to mention that the stock briefly touched a new 52-week low before ending the trading day positive.San Mateo concar (another redevelopment-threatened location)remains in business though a resident Google reviewer recently prayed that the vintage Payless doesn't get bulldozed for more condos.Oh,did I forget to mention that San Jose Winchester (1970's former Thrifty) just bit the dust as well?



Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

If Rite Aid loses stores due to redevelopment I don't feel as bad as if they lose stores due to corporate electing to close. The problem is when the store base is already thin the redevelopment forced closures cause coverage gaps which even the company didn't intend to have.

They probably need to work harder on replacement stores. Why not try the pharmacy only concept, it wouldn't be hard to find 2k square feet...
Post Reply