Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

[storewanderer]

They're also selling owned real estate.

That old 40k square foot more than half empty zero volume unremodeled 45 degree Payless dive store in Meridian, ID I mentioned was owned. That explains why it stayed open.

Menifee was also owned.

Around NorCal I know they own Watt in North Highlands which has foot traffic but is a really challenging neighborhood and also Crescent City which I think is extremely low volume.

[storewanderer]

Gardnerville unit had to go 50% off on all of their liquor/beer/wine within the past few days. Cannot transfer it across state lines.

I was curious how they'd handle the liquor. Probably lost a LOT of money on this as that department was being restocked by vendors right up until the week closure was announced.

Only categories left in store are foot care, first aid, limited food, checkout candy, adult diapers, home care (walkers, canes, etc.) and limited Christmas. They packed so much stuff up.

Was hoping for that 1 in 300 chance they'd reverse the closure but I know that was not a realistic hope. Pretty sure no chance of that now.

[storewanderer]

Truckee prescription files are actually going to Safeway.

Not sure why I thought it was CVS.

12/10: last day South Lake Tahoe
12/11: last day Truckee
12/14: last day Gardnerville

At least no more closures are being announced this past week... from what I can tell anyway.

[storewanderer]

Store locator is down to 1,848 stores right now (excludes Bartell).

They seem to be updating this rapidly. Truckee closed for the last time today and is already off the locator.

[HCal]

Maybe someone here has the expertise of understanding the law. I believe that there are some specific regulations involved in California around pharmacy closures, sales, relocations. Basically it has to be within a certain distance as to not inconvenience the disabled, elderly, or those dependent on public transportation.

The Long Beach closure is a victim of this, I realized that recently. They consolidated two stores into that beautiful new building, but based on the law they had to sell the files of one store because it was considered too far. Only the files from the closer building a couple blocks away were moved to the new store, while the files from the one a mile away that was being consolidated were sold to CVS as it was sandwiched between two CVS locations in the same center (one freestanding and one inside Target). My guess is that they didn't anticipate this requirement and planned the new store lease and costs to have both stores files and probably wouldn't have made the investment in the new store otherwise.

I did a cursory search and couldn't find any such law. In fact, I can't even find a law requiring prescription files to be sold. It seems the only requirement in California is for prescription records to be transferred to a licensed pharmacy and maintained for 3 years, and prescription inventory to either be transferred to a licensed pharmacy or returned to manufacturer. If there is in fact a law concerning distance, it would probably have to be flexible to account for various conditions, such as the number of competitors, urban vs. rural, etc.

But of course it would make sense to sell the files as they are valuable. The closer the acquiring pharmacy, the more valuable they are. If it is too far, then many patients will switch to a more convenient location.

[ClownLoach]

Maybe someone here has the expertise of understanding the law. I believe that there are some specific regulations involved in California around pharmacy closures, sales, relocations. Basically it has to be within a certain distance as to not inconvenience the disabled, elderly, or those dependent on public transportation.

The Long Beach closure is a victim of this, I realized that recently. They consolidated two stores into that beautiful new building, but based on the law they had to sell the files of one store because it was considered too far. Only the files from the closer building a couple blocks away were moved to the new store, while the files from the one a mile away that was being consolidated were sold to CVS as it was sandwiched between two CVS locations in the same center (one freestanding and one inside Target). My guess is that they didn't anticipate this requirement and planned the new store lease and costs to have both stores files and probably wouldn't have made the investment in the new store otherwise.

I did a cursory search and couldn't find any such law. In fact, I can't even find a law requiring prescription files to be sold. It seems the only requirement in California is for prescription records to be transferred to a licensed pharmacy and maintained for 3 years, and prescription inventory to either be transferred to a licensed pharmacy or returned to manufacturer. If there is in fact a law concerning distance, it would probably have to be flexible to account for various conditions, such as the number of competitors, urban vs. rural, etc.

But of course it would make sense to sell the files as they are valuable. The closer the acquiring pharmacy, the more valuable they are. If it is too far, then many patients will switch to a more convenient location.

Is it something that has to do with the local Health Department and their regulations? There is definitely something that I recall reading about in LA County regarding distance requirements, accessibility etc.... BUT that might have been in regards to Medi-CAL recipients and others receiving assistance from DPSS. Something to the point of dictating where the files can and cannot be moved to. Could turn into something where the DPSS/Medi-CAL requirements turn into a de-facto law as it might be considered questionable to transfer some prescription files to one location and others to a different location dependent on who is paying for the prescriptions. Medi-CAL is very restrictive.

[Romr123]

Had a friend who invests in real estate several years ago mention that Walgreens does a huge number of triple-net leases throughout their footprint--he considered investing in one/several but didn't end up doing it.

This was an interesting Reddit thread. Thanks for posting.

A Twitter thread reflecting the situation at Walgreens

[mburb1981]

Yet another round of Rite Aid closures have surfaced today. That docket has one Michigan closure--Woodhaven, which is a store that is isolated from the city's main retail area, which is on the other side of a railroad track...which leads into one of the region's major freight yards just a mile away, which creates congestion on both of the roads that meet at the intersection the store is located at.

It is close to some residential, but its only major neighbors are a Dollar Tree, a BP station and a lawnmower store.

There are 3 remaining stores within 4 miles of this one. However, following the closure of a Sav-On a mile away about 10 years ago (and which is still sitting empty!), this will leave Target, Walmart and Meijer pharmacies as the only major pharmacies within Woodhaven city limits.

[storewanderer]

Had a friend who invests in real estate several years ago mention that Walgreens does a huge number of triple-net leases throughout their footprint--he considered investing in one/several but didn't end up doing it.

This was an interesting Reddit thread. Thanks for posting.

A Twitter thread reflecting the situation at Walgreens

Walgreens has not been maintaining its stores well for quite some time. In my area multiple stores where landscaping is no longer maintained, building exteriors are dirty, drainage is not working properly, drive through pharmacy equipment is not in working order, parking lots are in bad shape. Once in the store the flooring is shot, counters are completely worn, and there is a general feeling of disrepair; if you go into the restrooms the restroom condition is very poor.

To see a company that was debt free and so stable end up in this state is a really nasty culmination of bad transactions, bad management, bad strategy, and just a pathetic state. This should not have happened to Walgreens.

Rite Aid on the other hand has always maintained the stores quite well after they got going on proper remodel programs. The Wellness remodels created very attractive stores. Even as I have said goodbye to the stores in my area and visited them as they were basically empty aside from the South Lake Tahoe one which looked run down and shot despite being the most recent remodel, the rest of the stores, these stores the flooring, fixtures, it all still looks sharp; good looking and well maintained.

[storewanderer]

Yet another round of Rite Aid closures have surfaced today. That docket has one Michigan closure--Woodhaven, which is a store that is isolated from the city's main retail area, which is on the other side of a railroad track...which leads into one of the region's major freight yards just a mile away, which creates congestion on both of the roads that meet at the intersection the store is located at.

It is close to some residential, but its only major neighbors are a Dollar Tree, a BP station and a lawnmower store.

There are 3 remaining stores within 4 miles of this one. However, following the closure of a Sav-On a mile away about 10 years ago (and which is still sitting empty!), this will leave Target, Walmart and Meijer pharmacies as the only major pharmacies within Woodhaven city limits.

This round is just 12 stores. Many of these will be slated to close just before or just after Christmas. I get the clock is ticking here but it seems like it really would have been better to delay this until after new year.

I have said the difficult final goodbye to the locations in my area with the last one being Gardnerville which was the most difficult by far. But the store is just a sad ghost now with almost every aisle empty. They have a small amount of liquor, checkout candy, greeting cards, soda, a very few seasonal items, and the rest is just an empty store that the employees are cleaning displays, boxes, etc. from which is also not a very pleasant thing to watch and I am sure is significantly less pleasant for 15-25 year tenured employees to be doing.