Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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norcalriteaidclerk wrote: November 28th, 2022, 1:09 am It appears that the installation of new pinpads(apparently paused for now)is being done in random order without regards to store volume(Manzanita makes sense but Placerville Fair Lane?!)in a similar manner to when the exterior signs were changed on most of the stores: Sacramento Watt still had red signs as of at least July while otoh many of the 49 California locations that have closed since Halloween 2021(i.e.,5712 Folsom)did receive new exterior signs.

NYC Manhattan is now officially down to ten open locations remaining with 282 eighth avenue in Chelsea just closed.As it stands right now 481 California RAD locations remain(49 fewer than at this time 14 months ago),and hopefully the ship gets 'rited' in a timely enough manner that the Golden State will still have at least 470 RAD locations at this point twelve months from now.I however do find it interesting that some new items that we began carrying within the past month or two are already going on clearance.

Something has to be up with that Watt site not getting new signs. Like pending relocation or downsizing or exterior shopping center remodel or something.

I don't understand putting those items on clearance now, seems like they could run some ads at 24.99 etc. which would be more than competitive with other retailers promoting those now, then wait until after Christmas to do a 75% off. May not want the $$ tied up in the inventory. Cannot believe the pricing on the glass holiday villages in seasonal at some locations either but these villages look nicer than previous years, remind me of the old Lenox ones Longs used to have.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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storewanderer wrote:
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: November 28th, 2022, 1:09 am It appears that the installation of new pinpads(apparently paused for now)is being done in random order without regards to store volume(Manzanita makes sense but Placerville Fair Lane?!)in a similar manner to when the exterior signs were changed on most of the stores: Sacramento Watt still had red signs as of at least July while otoh many of the 49 California locations that have closed since Halloween 2021(i.e.,5712 Folsom)did receive new exterior signs.

NYC Manhattan is now officially down to ten open locations remaining with 282 eighth avenue in Chelsea just closed.As it stands right now 481 California RAD locations remain(49 fewer than at this time 14 months ago),and hopefully the ship gets 'rited' in a timely enough manner that the Golden State will still have at least 470 RAD locations at this point twelve months from now.I however do find it interesting that some new items that we began carrying within the past month or two are already going on clearance.

Something has to be up with that Watt site not getting new signs. Like pending relocation or downsizing or exterior shopping center remodel or something.

I don't understand putting those items on clearance now, seems like they could run some ads at 24.99 etc. which would be more than competitive with other retailers promoting those now, then wait until after Christmas to do a 75% off. May not want the $$ tied up in the inventory. Cannot believe the pricing on the glass holiday villages in seasonal at some locations either but these villages look nicer than previous years, remind me of the old Lenox ones Longs used to have.
I do recall reading that renovations are planned for the 1969-era Arden Creek Town Center (parent center of 1730 Watt) which include a pair of new pad buildings in the parking lot along Watt (the center doesn't quite need all that parking space);while the payless building was refacaded in 2003-04 when RAD downside remodeled the first time(about 40% of the original payless footprint was split off into the current Smart and final storefront, RAD would get a first generation Wellness remodel around 2012 and was using the entire revised floor space until the chainwide cuts to non-core general merchandise within the past three years), it's entirely possible that the whole existing center gets refacaded including the current PetSmart which retains the original 1969 facade dating from when Albertsons (closed by the mid-1980's,later occupied by Miller's outpost for nearly a decade)opened.It must be noted that Sunrise Village owner merlone Geier (http://www.merlonegeier.com)also owns Arden Creek Town Center.

Outside of the NYC 5 boroughs,it appears that closure activity has mercifully paused for November and December.However, considering that labor coverage hours are cut and that 'new' items are getting clearanced almost as soon as the get introduced onto store shelves,it still feels like a false sense of security as the company will come under the microscope of Wall Street just days before Christmas(fy2023q3 earnings). It's nice to see anti-theft shelving installed at 5409 Sunrise (only after being beaten to the punch by both Marconi and Manzanita),but the fact the pharmacy volume has declined could be problematic along with rumors of possible enmity between the company and Sunrise Village management.

Also, according to a new interior shot posted to Google maps earlier this month, Roseville Foothills(decor last updated two decades ago)doesn't appear to shelve off space but aisle segments towards the front have been removed, registers are present by both entrances,and the lobby area especially seems spacious.

Additionally a fair percentage of the 49 California RAD locations that have closed since Halloween 2021 were already in the sunset of their leases and were never listed in the surplus property listing,and at least a couple have had new tenants lined up:Riverside/3849 Chicago is already undergoing conversion into a WSS shoe store while Visalia South Mooney(only 7-8 months left on its lease when it closed in January)is now a furniture store.Neither store got a wellness remodel.

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Roseville Foothills is very spacious. I don't understand why that store has no remodel/downsize. It inherited the Bel Air pharmacy next door. The store is maintained well enough and neat, but of course feels very understocked. I think the clinic operator may not be there anymore but pharmacy was remodeled to house a clinic tenant a long time ago, so pharmacy has a RA1- type of counter and decor.

Bishop is like a very run down version of Roseville Foothills. Bishop is easily the worst looking Rite Aid I've seen since about 1999. Another mystery why no wellness remodel/downsize.

I am not understanding the out of stocks at the present time. A large chunk of Rite Aid vitamin SKUs seem to be out of stock now. I see no reason why this should possibly be out of stock.

I took another look at Christmas Decor/Villages. This product is all much nicer than in recent past years. Quality looks better and designs look more professional. The seasonal decor/home mix used to usually look like cheap junk, somewhat tacky. This stuff this year looks more refined and better made.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by buckguy »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: November 28th, 2022, 1:09 am It appears that the installation of new pinpads(apparently paused for now)is being done in random order without regards to store volume(Manzanita makes sense but Placerville Fair Lane?!)in a similar manner to when the exterior signs were changed on most of the stores: Sacramento Watt still had red signs as of at least July while otoh many of the 49 California locations that have closed since Halloween 2021(i.e.,5712 Folsom)did receive new exterior signs.

NYC Manhattan is now officially down to ten open locations remaining with 282 eighth avenue in Chelsea just closed.As it stands right now 481 California RAD locations remain(49 fewer than at this time 14 months ago),and hopefully the ship gets 'rited' in a timely enough manner that the Golden State will still have at least 470 RAD locations at this point twelve months from now.I however do find it interesting that some new items that we began carrying within the past month or two are already going on clearance.



Image

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When I saw the tag, I wondered if this was really "new" merchandise rather than leftovers from last year or someone else's overstocks bought from a third party.

I've noticed that retailers of all sorts have become much more selective about seasonal markdowns over the past few years. Sometimes it's high end items that are excluded. Sometimes they seem to have whisked away utilitarian items like mid-range black gloves, that probably never go out of style. This year, a number of places had little or no Halloween merchandise on markdown--even perishables like candy. Some chains delay markdowns--Whole Foods has done this in the past, although not this year.

If Rite Aid needs to fill space, I'd assume they'd look for a cheap way to do it and someone else's close-outs or their own stuff that already has been marked down for accounting purposes would be easy ways to accomplish this.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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buckguy wrote: November 30th, 2022, 8:53 am I've noticed that retailers of all sorts have become much more selective about seasonal markdowns over the past few years. Sometimes it's high-end items that are excluded. Sometimes they seem to have whisked away utilitarian items like mid-range black gloves, that probably never go out of style. This year, a number of places had little or no Halloween merchandise on markdown--even perishables like candy. Some chains delay markdowns--Whole Foods has done this in the past, although not this year.

If Rite Aid needs to fill space, I'd assume they'd look for a cheap way to do it and someone else's close-outs or their own stuff that already has been marked down for accounting purposes would be easy ways to accomplish this.
Seems like many of the places had very little Halloween left before the holiday (they wouldn't have packed it up on Sunday, the day before, since they would still be hoping for people to be looking for it last minute).

So, it may just have been a lower starting supply based on doing orders using past years sales, unless stuff is still having trouble getting to stores like it was last year (probably not).
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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buckguy wrote: November 30th, 2022, 8:53 am

When I saw the tag, I wondered if this was really "new" merchandise rather than leftovers from last year or someone else's overstocks bought from a third party.

I've noticed that retailers of all sorts have become much more selective about seasonal markdowns over the past few years. Sometimes it's high end items that are excluded. Sometimes they seem to have whisked away utilitarian items like mid-range black gloves, that probably never go out of style. This year, a number of places had little or no Halloween merchandise on markdown--even perishables like candy. Some chains delay markdowns--Whole Foods has done this in the past, although not this year.

If Rite Aid needs to fill space, I'd assume they'd look for a cheap way to do it and someone else's close-outs or their own stuff that already has been marked down for accounting purposes would be easy ways to accomplish this.
Have you been in a Rite Aid within the past 3 months and seen the inventory situation? They are not trying to fill space with anything... they are trying to keep cash flow going by cutting inventory to the absolute minimum to get by. This has been going on for a while. They did some resets late summer/early fall that brought on new items like that diffuser so they did get inventory up to bring in some new items, but they cut facings in certain consumables categories to account for that other new inventory (eliminating the Wild Harvest food and replacing it with lower inventory value Hispanic food, eliminating facings from laundry detergent, etc.). They appear to be managing inventory at a very tight level to not have a ton of cash tied up in stuff that is just sitting around and not selling.

Halloween went to 90% off at CVS last week (75% off Candy), and had those percent offs at Rite Aid weeks ago. Same goes at Kroger and Wal Mart, weeks ago those percent offs hit 90% off on the non consumables and 75% off on candy. The only retailer I saw who was weak on Halloween markdowns was Target. Many items they only went to 30% off on, some costumes they went 50% off. Then they just packed everything up and salvaged all of it out. Everyone else marked Halloween down like they always did out west. Raleys did its usual 75% off, they always have some nice things, but $14+ Halloween Mugs just don't sell. There were noticeably fewer items left at many retailers though, this year, compared to prior years.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by buckguy »

It looks like Halloween has been different in different places--less buying and/or less clearance in some places, more in others. My own observation going back before COVID is that seasonal merch is not being cleared the way it used to be and there may be more of it available as overstocks. If Rite-Aid is short on inventory it's pretty unlikely that they are truly selling stuff that's 95% off.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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storewanderer wrote:Roseville Foothills is very spacious. I don't understand why that store has no remodel/downsize. It inherited the Bel Air pharmacy next door. The store is maintained well enough and neat, but of course feels very understocked. I think the clinic operator may not be there anymore but pharmacy was remodeled to house a clinic tenant a long time ago, so pharmacy has a RA1- type of counter and decor.

Bishop is like a very run down version of Roseville Foothills. Bishop is easily the worst looking Rite Aid I've seen since about 1999. Another mystery why no wellness remodel/downsize.

I am not understanding the out of stocks at the present time. A large chunk of Rite Aid vitamin SKUs seem to be out of stock now. I see no reason why this should possibly be out of stock.

I took another look at Christmas Decor/Villages. This product is all much nicer than in recent past years. Quality looks better and designs look more professional. The seasonal decor/home mix used to usually look like cheap junk, somewhat tacky. This stuff this year looks more refined and better made.
The clinic setup at Roseville Foothills was part of a short lived partnership with Sutter health which saw in-store clinics at this and five other Sacramento locations (Folsom, Rancho Cordova,natomas, Greenhaven,and elk Grove bruceville).Of those six(all remain open as RAD), Roseville Foothills was the only one to never receive a wellness remodel (the Sutter partnership ended before the conversions).Sutter health would later enter a clinical partnership with CVS health.

I do recall reading in an internal memo that additional Halloween/harvest markdowns were rescinded at the eleventh hour so the markdowns remain half off for consumables and 75% off everything else.While it's still been whittling down at a decent rate,still makes me wonder if the company is so desperate that it's resorting to stinginess.

I have noticed my share of out of stocks.A number of items haven't been in stock at 5409 Sunrise for months,though some have been in stock at higher volume locations (i.e.,some big win brand disposable plates and bowls).

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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norcalriteaidclerk wrote: December 1st, 2022, 6:42 pm The clinic setup at Roseville Foothills was part of a short lived partnership with Sutter health which saw in-store clinics at this and five other Sacramento locations (Folsom, Rancho Cordova,natomas, Greenhaven,and elk Grove bruceville).Of those six(all remain open as RAD), Roseville Foothills was the only one to never receive a wellness remodel (the Sutter partnership ended before the conversions).Sutter health would later enter a clinical partnership with CVS health.

I do recall reading in an internal memo that additional Halloween/harvest markdowns were rescinded at the eleventh hour so the markdowns remain half off for consumables and 75% off everything else.While it's still been whittling down at a decent rate,still makes me wonder if the company is so desperate that it's resorting to stinginess.

I have noticed my share of out of stocks.A number of items haven't been in stock at 5409 Sunrise for months,though some have been in stock at higher volume locations (i.e.,some big win brand disposable plates and bowls).

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I am surprised Rite Aid did not replace those clinics with its own clinics, or some of them. I am not sure how these clinics are really doing. From the looks of it in Reno, the 3 CVS Minute Clinics I am aware of have little traffic, never more than one employee, and do not open when they say they will open consistently and keep changing their hours. The Sparks CVS Minute Clinic in the 24 hour CVS should do better based on how busy that store is but I am not sure. A group called Carson Tahoe Health has clinics in a couple of Wal Marts in Carson City and I never see any customers using the clinics but they've been there for many years now so they must get some traffic. Also there is always a receptionist at the front desk in addition to a couple medical staff in back so to have this level of staffing they must be getting some traffic. I suppose it is ideal there isn't a group of people steadily waiting for a clinic in front of the checkouts/next to the bathrooms in the front wall of a Wal Mart.

I noticed when the Rite Aid Halloween was marked to 90% off with posted signs, that it was still scanning at 75% off. That was strange. Some stores I've been in don't have any markdown signs for these items. I am only seeing home decor left in the past couple weeks, no more candy. Actually now that I think about it I did see candy on the clearance endcap at one store and it had price tags on it that reflected 75% off, but those clearance endcap price tags seem to often require a price override.

There are items in stock now in Truckee that I haven't seen in stock at other stores in months now... not sure how they did it or if it was a backlog of months old freight that they finally got help to get out of the backroom since that has the Payless backroom (that was built as a straight aisle Payless with the "decor" 5409 Sunrise had before the Rite Aid remodel, despite being built in the 45 degree era). It is the usual 3-4 units of product Rite Aid typically keeps on hand, the shelves aren't filled, but it isn't just one unit of product either.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Store in Pittsburgh Airport received the low budget version of the "new" interior. This one never had the Wellness interior. Store has street pricing, and is after security.

I wonder why the drugstore chains in the US have not pursued airport locations other than this one.
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