WSJ: Rite Aid plans 400-500 store closures in pending bankruptcy filing

[SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT]

For the RAD employees who follow Retail Watchers and covered by a bargaining agreement, have your local union leaders negotiated any kind of additional severance or benefits for the many RAD employees being shown the door as their local location(s) close?

If I were a bargaining unit member, I would certainly like to think that my union that I am paying dues into is actively looking out for me ahead of the big shove off the cliff in terms of store closures.

I myself would be in direct contact with my local union President and Secretary/Treasurer and ask them to show you their call and contact logs - and their results from obtaining more slices of what's left of the RAD pie.

I was watching a segment today from Monday, September 25, 2023 on local powerhouse WPVI, channel 6 in Philadelphia. The reporter was speaking with the UFCW local President about store closures in center city Philadelphia. The way he answered was as if he was a deer in the headlights of my truck!

The UFCW union local President did not offer any suggestions as to what if any he would be advocating for on behalf of his local members. It's as if the house is burning down- and he's in the middle of the house. So sad he couldn't see this coming and/or the UFCW at the national level from its own internal intelligence gathering. Maybe the UFCW doesn't stay informed?

SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT

[reymann]

If CVS takes the Rite Aid in West Hollywood they will destroy that store (high volume).

I would prefer Walgreens.

i think walgreens will end up taking over a lot of the rite aid stores on the central coast where they really don't have a presence and where it is a more senior population. i would prefer walgreens to have thrifty ice cream over CVS. CVS would not do justice to thrifty ice cream.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

I found these tweets from a fellow RAD colleague on the other coast(Delaware)and being a 25-year company veteran I agree with them 100% in respect the sensationalized(yes, sensationalized)media coverage of financial plight of my longtime employer:

[ClownLoach]

I found these tweets from a fellow RAD colleague on the other coast(Delaware)and being a 25-year company veteran I agree with them 100% in respect the sensationalized(yes, sensationalized)media coverage of financial plight of my longtime employer:

And here's the issue: if it was not true then they would had their lawyers file billion dollar lawsuits against the WSJ immediately upon the story being reported. The story would have been ripped from the headlines immediately, and WSJ would have settled quickly out of court for millions of dollars. Obviously there is truth to the matter. These leaks come from people like vendors who might not be getting paid (or are being asked to take a partial payment and forgive debt instead of risking a bankruptcy write off), or people like landlords who are probably being told by RAD Real Estate people that they can either slash the rent immediately and the store stays open, or they'll close the store and won't pay the millions in lease severance because it will be canceled in the upcoming bankruptcy. That's how this happens. Rite Aid is complaining about rumors but the odds are they're using them as bargaining tools.

The unfortunate thing is that retail customers do not understand that bankruptcy does not mean going out of business. Smart retailers who are struggling and can see the need to eventually restructure do so well before they run out of cash. They forecast for their needs. Rite Aid didn't do that and instead only recently reported that their business situation had deteriorated so much that their losses were going to double this next year (and had no rational explanation as to why, or what they were going to do to fix it). So then they started closing stores, selling the files for cash to competitors, and created a death spiral for themselves by creating the appearance in many communities that Rite Aid was winding down. And people start talking, "Oh Susie, I had to switch my pharmacy to Walgreens because Rite Aid closed and they took over. I guess it's fine, service is about the same." "Really Jean? I guess I should move my prescriptions over before my Rite Aid closes too, since yours closed I'm sure mine must be next." And that's how the cookie crumbles and the customer confidence in the brand erodes, causing doubling of losses and a financial crisis.

Rite Aid leadership should have resolved this matter before it necessitated a full reorganization under the courts. They should have been working on a prepackaged bankruptcy that would have them in and out of court in one day instead of a truly worthless prototype they've obviously self determined to be a flop since they already have closed one of the first new prototypes in Idaho which obviously performed so well before the remodel it was selected for one. They should have been spending money on great Real Estate brokers who could have gone to war with greedy landlords when the company wasn't yet in a crisis, and they could have potentially locked down hundreds of millions in rent reductions, maybe even a billion, but instead they bought all new signs.

[ClownLoach]

Several people has said that the west coast stores should go back to the Payless name. That would be a huge mistake. It's been nearly 30 years since Rite Aid purchased Payless. No one under 50 remembers the name. And with the huge popular shift out west, it's even fewer. Might as well start with a new name as the Payless brand has zero cache except for us old people.

Problem is changing the sign is easy. Heck, Rite Aid just did that 2500+ times and got zero return on investment. The entire department store industry is on life support and there are people who say Macy's should change SoCal back to Robinsons-May, bring back Marshall Fields, etc.

But when the sign changes, and the name changes, it'll still be the same thing. And the cost of changing the brand means there's a lot less money that can be spent on curing the store of its illnesses that led to the decline in the first place. I fear that they lost incredible amounts of money with the chainsawing of their assortment and probably parted ways with hundreds or thousands of vendors who will never return thus making it impossible to restore the product assortment that worked. My guess is they lacked the technology investment to learn about attachments. Today good retailers understand "power SKUs" which are low turning items that enable entire trips. Maybe they only turn that SKU once a month per store, but every time it brought in a customer who bought a $50 basket of other stuff. Remove just 100 SKUs that seem to be underwhelming in sales, and now that's 400 baskets gone from that store permanently. Then multiply that by 2500 stores and you've got a financial disaster. SKU Rationalization is easy to do, just run a excel spreadsheet and say cut the bottom 5% or 10%, but the results can be catastrophic if any of those SKUs were "power SKUs" that always attached to a big basket and were proven to enable entire shopping trips. I'm sure this is what Rite Aid did that caused more self-inflicted harm than any other issue.

Rite Aid really seemed like it was moving in the right direction in the mid to late 2010's, but then they got themselves mixed up in the botched mergers and divestitures. They had a great format, Wellness 2.0 was the best looking chain drugstore in America and the assortment was decent even in newer small boxes. But they were too busy playing with logos and prototypes to fix the long term finances even when they didn't have a uniform logo or prototype and needed to finish remodeling to Wellness. Good companies are forecasting themselves out a decade or more, while Rite Aid was clearly operating "a quarter at a time" with no contingency plans for bumps in the road (like a global pandemic, or massive opioid lawsuit).

[ClownLoach]

I found these tweets from a fellow RAD colleague on the other coast(Delaware)and being a 25-year company veteran I agree with them 100% in respect the sensationalized(yes, sensationalized)media coverage of financial plight of my longtime employer:

And here's the issue: if it was not true then they would had their lawyers file billion dollar lawsuits against the WSJ immediately upon the story being reported. The story would have been ripped from the headlines immediately, and WSJ would have settled quickly out of court for millions of dollars. Obviously there is truth to the matter. These leaks come from people like vendors who might not be getting paid (or are being asked to take a partial payment and forgive debt instead of risking a bankruptcy write off), or people like landlords who are probably being told by RAD Real Estate people that they can either slash the rent immediately and the store stays open, or they'll close the store and won't pay the millions in lease severance because it will be canceled in the upcoming bankruptcy. That's how this happens. Rite Aid is complaining about rumors but the odds are they're using them as bargaining tools.

The unfortunate thing is that retail customers do not understand that bankruptcy does not mean going out of business. Smart retailers who are struggling and can see the need to eventually restructure do so well before they run out of cash. They forecast for their needs. Rite Aid didn't do that and instead only recently reported that their business situation had deteriorated so much that their losses were going to double this next year (and had no rational explanation as to why, or what they were going to do to fix it). So then they started closing stores, selling the files for cash to competitors, and created a death spiral for themselves by creating the appearance in many communities that Rite Aid was winding down. And people start talking, "Oh Susie, I had to switch my pharmacy to Walgreens because Rite Aid closed and they took over. I guess it's fine, service is about the same." "Really Jean? I guess I should move my prescriptions over before my Rite Aid closes too, since yours closed I'm sure mine must be next." And that's how the cookie crumbles and the customer confidence in the brand erodes, causing doubling of losses and a financial crisis.

Rite Aid leadership should have resolved this matter before it necessitated a full reorganization under the courts. They should have been working on a prepackaged bankruptcy that would have them in and out of court in one day instead of a truly worthless prototype they've obviously self determined to be a flop since they already have closed one of the first new prototypes in Idaho which obviously performed so well before the remodel it was selected for one. They should have been spending money on great Real Estate brokers who could have gone to war with greedy landlords when the company wasn't yet in a crisis, and they could have potentially locked down hundreds of millions in rent reductions, maybe even a billion, but instead they bought all new signs.

Furthermore, all of the field leaders and such that are telling the store teams everything is fine, we are just going to streamline the organization, no story here etc. Are in positions of authority but not positions of financial confidentiality. These corporations have to keep a small, close knit team who actually makes the decisions and has the inside scoop otherwise there would be insider trading and SEC scandals left and right. So unfortunately there are probably a lot of District Managers and such having conference calls with their teams shrugging this off because they're not in the loop. Those who are have already signed NDAs because they have to. So there are a lot of people who will be misled all the way until the end. We just saw it with BB&B who took this to new extremes and not only kept denying that they were in over their heads with no viable survival plan but they had field leaders deliberately lie to employees about their financial state and options. (My personal favorite being a BB&B DM who said there's no such thing as lease break fees, anyone can just turn over the keys cost free).

And then the leaks come from the aggressive behind the scenes struggle that always precedes a filing. Those guys making the calls for RAD are being told "hey, we need to get XX% of our creditors to extend terms or work new deals and then we are free and clear, but if we don't get XX% then we might have to restructure in BK." Of course if they did that work a year ago or more the odds of a positive outcome would improve. That's where everyone who sends a bill to Rite Aid gets a call from someone on that finance team who wants to shake them down for new payment terms, a reduction in debt, a different lease, a new contract or whatever else. And every time the carrot and stick are used; take our deal and help us along so our relationship lasts for years to come, or don't support us and your bills go into our First Day chapter 11 filings as "expenses we don't want to pay" so you might get pennies on the dollar if you're lucky and our relationship is over. The problem is that now their credit is bad and credibility is shot, so the landlords who have the most viable and profitable sites are likely to play hardball or just negotiate a lease break because they can move in a better tenant that will pay more. That's why there are so many of what we all know are "good stores" which close when "bad stores" stay open, and the end result of BK avoidance ends in a futile effort without enough costs reduced and more "good" stores lost thus nullifying the savings.

Just one of those guys gets pissed off and stands their ground, records the phone call and plays it for a news reporter or forwards an email with names redacted. Reporter publishes immediately, "We have exclusive details from inside sources that Rite Aid is going to file bankruptcy and close X hundred stores."

Now there's a story that can't be pulled back, and the company has obviously fired their PR Crisis firm or otherwise the situation would be handled appropriately with necessary spin.

What a sad mess.

[SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT]

I found these tweets from a fellow RAD colleague on the other coast(Delaware)and being a 25-year company veteran I agree with them 100% in respect the sensationalized(yes, sensationalized)media coverage of financial plight of my longtime employer:

And here's the issue: if it was not true then they would had their lawyers file billion dollar lawsuits against the WSJ immediately upon the story being reported. The story would have been ripped from the headlines immediately, and WSJ would have settled quickly out of court for millions of dollars. Obviously there is truth to the matter. These leaks come from people like vendors who might not be getting paid (or are being asked to take a partial payment and forgive debt instead of risking a bankruptcy write off), or people like landlords who are probably being told by RAD Real Estate people that they can either slash the rent immediately and the store stays open, or they'll close the store and won't pay the millions in lease severance because it will be canceled in the upcoming bankruptcy. That's how this happens. Rite Aid is complaining about rumors but the odds are they're using them as bargaining tools.

The unfortunate thing is that retail customers do not understand that bankruptcy does not mean going out of business. Smart retailers who are struggling and can see the need to eventually restructure do so well before they run out of cash. They forecast for their needs. Rite Aid didn't do that and instead only recently reported that their business situation had deteriorated so much that their losses were going to double this next year (and had no rational explanation as to why, or what they were going to do to fix it). So then they started closing stores, selling the files for cash to competitors, and created a death spiral for themselves by creating the appearance in many communities that Rite Aid was winding down. And people start talking, "Oh Susie, I had to switch my pharmacy to Walgreens because Rite Aid closed and they took over. I guess it's fine, service is about the same." "Really Jean? I guess I should move my prescriptions over before my Rite Aid closes too, since yours closed I'm sure mine must be next." And that's how the cookie crumbles and the customer confidence in the brand erodes, causing doubling of losses and a financial crisis.

Rite Aid leadership should have resolved this matter before it necessitated a full reorganization under the courts. They should have been working on a prepackaged bankruptcy that would have them in and out of court in one day instead of a truly worthless prototype they've obviously self determined to be a flop since they already have closed one of the first new prototypes in Idaho which obviously performed so well before the remodel it was selected for one. They should have been spending money on great Real Estate brokers who could have gone to war with greedy landlords when the company wasn't yet in a crisis, and they could have potentially locked down hundreds of millions in rent reductions, maybe even a billion, but instead they bought all new signs.

Another poster is uptight in regard to articles written by the WSJ, and supposedly by Mr. Murdoch himself. Possibly, those affected employees, family members, customers, friends, labor unions, etc., may want to file a lawsuit against the WSJ, the reporters who wrote the bylines and Mr. Murdoch. Fortunately, with a free press, information gets passed around.

The entities and individuals that are financially impacted (landlords, vendors, creditors, banks, union healthcare trust funds, etc.), are the ones getting screwed here. I assure you that the WSJ would not print this stuff about RAD or any company unless it were true. The WSJ is pro-business, so it is not of any interest or gain to themselves or their targeted readership to write bylines that are anti-business - unless, it's potentially harming other lines of business and/or companies, banks, vendors, etc. Those that are going to get hit financially are probably upset, and reached out to the WSJ and gave them a news tip.

If you're a smaller trade vendor that let's say sells to RAD on a regional basis, let's use southern California as an example. You're noticing that RAD has slowed their net number of days to be paid to your firm. With the information written by the WSJ and other news sources, you may be able to make a rational business decision as to whether or not you should continue credit terms and supplying the company with any merchandise/products/services, etc.

These types of liquidity issues the customer is facing probably have known for months within the company - but not known publicly. Unfortunately, when the crap hits the fan, the problems a business is facing often escalate very rapidly and often without notice.

If you as the supplier tried to obtain clarification from your customer, in this case RAD and they have not responded satisfactorily, you then make a business sense decision whether or not to continue to supply them. You have to protect your own interests and cash flow. People often forget that it's small business that make-up the backbone of our economy. Yes, we often hear when the biggies go bankrupt and liquidate or try to re-structure, but do not hear and/or read about the financial impact to the small businesses and other/suppliers affected when these companies go bust.

What I don't like are the "powder puffery" press releases by the p.r. flacks who like to call bankruptcy "re-structuring". Either the company has filed bankruptcy or not.

If the company has NOT filed bankruptcy and has been able to re-structure their business, that is true re-structuring. Bankruptcy is just that...you're bankrupt, whether you sugar coat it, or call it by another name.

SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT

[ClownLoach]

I found these tweets from a fellow RAD colleague on the other coast(Delaware)and being a 25-year company veteran I agree with them 100% in respect the sensationalized(yes, sensationalized)media coverage of financial plight of my longtime employer:

And here's the issue: if it was not true then they would had their lawyers file billion dollar lawsuits against the WSJ immediately upon the story being reported. The story would have been ripped from the headlines immediately, and WSJ would have settled quickly out of court for millions of dollars. Obviously there is truth to the matter. These leaks come from people like vendors who might not be getting paid (or are being asked to take a partial payment and forgive debt instead of risking a bankruptcy write off), or people like landlords who are probably being told by RAD Real Estate people that they can either slash the rent immediately and the store stays open, or they'll close the store and won't pay the millions in lease severance because it will be canceled in the upcoming bankruptcy. That's how this happens. Rite Aid is complaining about rumors but the odds are they're using them as bargaining tools.

The unfortunate thing is that retail customers do not understand that bankruptcy does not mean going out of business. Smart retailers who are struggling and can see the need to eventually restructure do so well before they run out of cash. They forecast for their needs. Rite Aid didn't do that and instead only recently reported that their business situation had deteriorated so much that their losses were going to double this next year (and had no rational explanation as to why, or what they were going to do to fix it). So then they started closing stores, selling the files for cash to competitors, and created a death spiral for themselves by creating the appearance in many communities that Rite Aid was winding down. And people start talking, "Oh Susie, I had to switch my pharmacy to Walgreens because Rite Aid closed and they took over. I guess it's fine, service is about the same." "Really Jean? I guess I should move my prescriptions over before my Rite Aid closes too, since yours closed I'm sure mine must be next." And that's how the cookie crumbles and the customer confidence in the brand erodes, causing doubling of losses and a financial crisis.

Rite Aid leadership should have resolved this matter before it necessitated a full reorganization under the courts. They should have been working on a prepackaged bankruptcy that would have them in and out of court in one day instead of a truly worthless prototype they've obviously self determined to be a flop since they already have closed one of the first new prototypes in Idaho which obviously performed so well before the remodel it was selected for one. They should have been spending money on great Real Estate brokers who could have gone to war with greedy landlords when the company wasn't yet in a crisis, and they could have potentially locked down hundreds of millions in rent reductions, maybe even a billion, but instead they bought all new signs.

Another poster is uptight in regard to articles written by the WSJ, and supposedly by Mr. Murdoch himself. Possibly, those affected employees, family members, customers, friends, labor unions, etc., may want to file a lawsuit against the WSJ, the reporters who wrote the bylines and Mr. Murdoch. Fortunately, with a free press, information gets passed around.

The entities and individuals that are financially impacted (landlords, vendors, creditors, banks, union healthcare trust funds, etc.), are the ones getting screwed here. I assure you that the WSJ would not print this stuff about RAD or any company unless it were true. The WSJ is pro-business, so it is not of any interest or gain to themselves or their targeted readership to write bylines that are anti-business - unless, it's potentially harming other lines of business and/or companies, banks, vendors, etc. Those that are going to get hit financially are probably upset, and reached out to the WSJ and gave them a news tip.

What I don't like are the "powder puffery" press releases by the p.r. flacks who like to call bankruptcy "re-structuring". Either the company has filed bankruptcy or not.

If the company has NOT filed bankruptcy and has been able to re-structure their business, that is true re-structuring. Bankruptcy is just that...you're bankrupt, whether you sugar coat it, or call it by another name.

SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT

The WSJ is not going to pass up news because they are a business newspaper. If anything, they're more likely to publish whether its a positive or negative because they want to maintain their reputation in the financial industry where they make all their money. So if they got tips that a RAD bankruptcy is coming, and they feel that their sources are solid, they're publishing. If they have knowledge and don't publish then as a financial news organization they could find themselves in very serious trouble, compared to the local news station that probably doesn't really care about Rite Aid unless it's a slow news day.

Rite Aid doesn't seem to have any political angle so I don't understand why people think Mr. Murdoch would have anything to do with the stories. He probably isn't even aware of their situation and could care less about it. Unfortunately whether we all like it or not, Rite Aid is small potatoes and I'd guess the print story is on page 90 something at the bottom because it just isn't all that important with the small size of today's Rite Aid organization. Look at their store map - the vast majority of the country hasn't had a Rite Aid to shop at for years and might just scratch their heads at the story as a curiosity because in their perspective the company has been out of business for years, like Kmart is to nearly the entire country. The fact is that when you work in the environment you probably feel like the company is larger than the entire world, but then you recognize the real insignificance of the organization in the vast marketplace.

I will disagree with you on restructuring vs bankruptcy. There are many retailers and other companies who do restructure through the bankruptcy court process, it's called a "prepackaged bankruptcy restructuring". The difference is they are proactive, good negotiators, they act years before the forecasted cash crisis point, and they get all the creditors on board. The creditors might be agreeing to debt for equity swaps, or partial write-downs of their debts etc. but they have to go through the bankruptcy court process so they can in turn write-off their losses. In those cases, the company is restructured mostly ahead of time. Locations to be closed are all taken care of before a filing, usually in one mass wave and managed by a firm like Gordon Bros. or Hilco. Layoffs are all completed and severances are paid. Then the company files for Chapter 11, has signed agreements with every creditor in hand, and walks back out of bankruptcy with the restructuring completed the next day as a go-forward organization with cleaned up books. This is more common outside of retail however, the last company I can think of that did a prepackaged bankruptcy was Belk stores.

Really good article on bankruptcies here.

https://www.retaildive.com/news/welcome ... cy/596041/

[mbz321]

Dollar General should just get into the Pharmacy business and take them all out . Imagine having the prices and variety of a Dollar General with a pharmacy counter!

[storewanderer]

I am really disgusted with these reports that Rite Aid is going to basically just give up and turn itself over to the creditors. I mean I don't blame the reports/reporters, I just am disgusted if this is really the path Rite Aid management/Board has chosen to go. Not even an attempt at a restructure in these articles of "leaks" so far... maybe they're wrong... I hope.

Multiple management teams at Rite Aid could have done this very thing many times over the years starting after the nasty accounting scandal with former CEO Grass. But they didn't - they chose to fight and keep the company alive. And it wasn't easy. It was never easy. Now this current group just ups and decides to give up (according to these "leaks") and turn the thing over to creditors? Really frustrating to me. But this is the same BOD that put that last CEO into the position and allowed initiatives like the logo change to proceed, so unfortunately this is about what you'd expect I guess