Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

[storewanderer]

Looking through again; appears to be one closure in Sylvania, OH (leaving 19 stores in Toledo/Sylvania; appears to be a store remaining 1 mile away); one in Mansfield, OH (leaving 2), one in Westlake, OH (leaving 1; they appeared to be 1/2 mile apart); Middletown, OH (nearest store 14 miles away in Circleville; this was their frontier store from the Dayton market as this was on I-75 between Dayton/Cincinnati), one in Mentor, OH (nearest 6 miles away); one in Marysville (frontier store closest to Columbus, nearest 22 miles away), Also one of 3 in New Bedford, MA

Seems like they have smaller and secondary type of markets in Ohio covered pretty well.

Can't help but notice also the stores there historically have pretty positive reviews but recent reviews are very negative all pertaining to pharmacy. Operationally in the past year it seems like this company has just kind of fallen apart. The reviews seem somewhat better for CVS/Walgreens in Ohio than I'm used to seeing too but are more of a mixed bag historically. But it looks like Rite Aid had an above average operation in Ohio until the past year...

[Bagels]

Looking through again; appears to be one closure in Sylvania, OH (leaving 19 stores in Toledo/Sylvania; appears to be a store remaining 1 mile away); one in Mansfield, OH (leaving 2), one in Westlake, OH (leaving 1; they appeared to be 1/2 mile apart); Middletown, OH (nearest store 14 miles away in Circleville; this was their frontier store from the Dayton market as this was on I-75 between Dayton/Cincinnati), one in Mentor, OH (nearest 6 miles away); one in Marysville (frontier store closest to Columbus, nearest 22 miles away), Also one of 3 in New Bedford, MA

Seems like they have smaller and secondary type of markets in Ohio covered pretty well.

Can't help but notice also the stores there historically have pretty positive reviews but recent reviews are very negative all pertaining to pharmacy. Operationally in the past year it seems like this company has just kind of fallen apart. The reviews seem somewhat better for CVS/Walgreens in Ohio than I'm used to seeing too but are more of a mixed bag historically. But it looks like Rite Aid had an above average operation in Ohio until the past year...

Rite Aid acquired Lane (People’s) Drugs in 1989; Lane had practically monopolized the Toledo market for years. Rite Aid’s market share plunged in the 1990s, and it closed many (if not most) of the former Lane/People’s. That it still maintains a large (physical) presence today is surprising.

[Romr123]

Looks like CVS only has 6 stores within a 10 mile radius of Toledo, OH; presumably this is after adding Target pharmacies. Looks like Walgreens has roughly the same. For comparison, Flint, MI has 0 CVS stores within a 14 mile radius...yet about a dozen Rite Aid. Interesting differences in penetration, actually.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

I can verify at least one of the new mystery SoCal closures (first such loss in Ventura county within the past 12 months): Thousand oaks Westlake is a presumed former Thrifty and lone pharmacy in a larger center with an Ace hardware franchise, Trader Joe's,and Ralphs.A Google reviewer states that RAD balked at a rent hike.This leaves a lone remaining location in town (Avenida de Los árboles) plus peripheral locations in Agoura Hills and the new Camarillo location that is the first California store with the new concept interior.

The loss of 900 Sunrise is the third closure in my district within the past six months alongside Cameron Park and 990 pleasant Grove.My store is basically on the bleeding edge of a growing coverage hole encompassing both northeastern Sacramento county and southeastern placer county.In fact my store along with the one Rancho Cordova location are now suddenly the only ones left along the busy Sunrise Boulevard corridor.That coverage hole has progressively grown for over a couple decades and not overnight unlike this past spring when RAD systematically eliminated its presence in downtown/midtown/East Sacramento over course of ten weeks (only 4830 j remains as well as outlying stores in West Sacramento, Land Park,5610 Stockton, Rosemont,and three Arden arcade locations).

On the subject of the former orangevale payless it appears to have gotten minimal capex attention under CVS (only a modest Long's transition decor refresh sans carpet) which is enough to question that store's survival prospects.I must note that among the thirty-plus legacy Payless locations divested to Long's in late 1999,the only one I've personally visited is the South natomas location at 1587 West El Camino(possibly had 45-degree interior based on still-intact herringbone ceiling lights)which has already been remodeled multiple times as CVS.

The remaining (post-walgreens divestiture)token Massachusetts presence is interesting.It remains focused on Fall River-New Bedford (even after a recent closure) though with scattered outposts elsewhere including one in the Boston suburbs (Revere).

The peculiar Ohio situation for both RAD and CVS is a byproduct of a 2000-ish asset swap when RAD exited Cincinnati (minimal store count)and Columbus while CVS exited Toledo only to reenter via organic growth a few years before acquiring the Target pharmacies.Random locations in other markets may have been included in the store exchange.RAD may have possibly received additional Flint-Saginaw stores as a result though I can't confirm it for sure.

On the subject of Fresno's cedar avenue corridor,of the select RAD locations that have extended weekday pharmacy hours hours(8am-10pm),none of the three along that corridor (cedar/nees,East Shields/cedar,cedar/Gettysburg) are among them.Only two such locations exist in Sacramento (4221 Norwood,5610 Stockton).

Back to Roseville ,both CVS and Walgreens have each opened a new store there within the past decade (CVS on the SEC pleasant Grove/fiddyment and Walgreens on the NEC Blue oaks/woodcreek oaks).

I hope that California areas north of the tejón,cajon,and gaviota passes avoid further closures;but the lack of a plan by heyward donigan to stop further financial bleeding has me gravely concerned as a longtime supporter and employee,and don't even get me started on labor hour cuts being imposed despite us still being on adjusted operating hours as it is.

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[buckguy]

Looking through again; appears to be one closure in Sylvania, OH (leaving 19 stores in Toledo/Sylvania; appears to be a store remaining 1 mile away); one in Mansfield, OH (leaving 2), one in Westlake, OH (leaving 1; they appeared to be 1/2 mile apart); Middletown, OH (nearest store 14 miles away in Circleville; this was their frontier store from the Dayton market as this was on I-75 between Dayton/Cincinnati), one in Mentor, OH (nearest 6 miles away); one in Marysville (frontier store closest to Columbus, nearest 22 miles away), Also one of 3 in New Bedford, MA

Middletown is pretty much it's own place--an old steel town.

The Mentor store was a location w/o much competition--it's odd they don't have stores in the main business strips along Mentor Ave, (one East and one West) which are major retail hubs for the greater area. They would have inherited at least one location in that area from Gray Drug. Neither Westlake store is in a major retail area. They probably closed several stores in that general area that came from Gray Drug---there are several shopping complexes of varying importance that would have had Gray stores in the past where Rite Aid isn't now--they used to have one in Rocky River that was probably among those. In the Cleveland area, the closures are less interesting than what they've already closed.

The Sylvania store that closed seems to be the one in the main commercial area of that town which is an important secondary retail area around Toledo.

[storewanderer]

I can verify at least one of the new mystery SoCal closures (first such loss in Ventura county within the past 12 months): Thousand oaks Westlake is a presumed former Thrifty and lone pharmacy in a larger center with an Ace hardware franchise, Trader Joe's,and Ralphs.A Google reviewer states that RAD balked at a rent hike.This leaves a lone remaining location in town (Avenida de Los árboles) plus peripheral locations in Agoura Hills and the new Camarillo location that is the first California store with the new concept interior.

On the subject of the former orangevale payless it appears to have gotten minimal capex attention under CVS (only a modest Long's transition decor refresh sans carpet) which is enough to question that store's survival prospects.I must note that among the thirty-plus legacy Payless locations divested to Long's in late 1999,the only one I've personally visited is the South natomas location at 1587 West El Camino(possibly had 45-degree interior based on still-intact herringbone ceiling lights)which has already been remodeled multiple times as CVS.

The remaining (post-walgreens divestiture)token Massachusetts presence is interesting.It remains focused on Fall River-New Bedford (even after a recent closure) though with scattered outposts elsewhere including one in the Boston suburbs (Revere).


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The 400 or so stores that Rite Aid intended to sell to Walgreens but then ended up keeping (including all of Idaho) made for some strange geography back east. But at least it kept Rite Aid in a lot of markets they intended to sell out of and disappear from.

Orangevale Payless was a high volume 24 hour store in the 90's and the Lucky next to it was very busy and Albertsons did a major expansion on that store right after taking it over (same with Missouri Flat in Placerville and Gerber Road). First hit to Orangevale Payless- a new 24 hour Walgreens opened across the street (not sure if that was before or after Longs took over) which ironically has since gone out of business. Not sure if Longs was 24 hours as Longs was very weird with how it conducted 24 hour operations and clearly did not want 24 hour stores. Next hit was that awkward undersized Wal Mart opened across the other street. Other problem was WinCo opening (and I'm sure Wal Mart didn't help), then Save Mart taking over Albertsons and screwing the stores up so badly and killing traffic.

Pollock Pines seemed like a fairly busy Payless and Longs remodeled it a couple of times and it was REALLY nice in its last form as Longs, stuffed with relevant merchandise (outdoor items, more liquor, more food, home health supplies expanded). CVS has done two remodels to it and for a CVS it still is very nice but it hardly seems to have any traffic anymore. Other one I'm familiar with is Rocklin Granite Road and that store is nicer now after its second CVS remodel and seems fairly busy but was kind of dire with its first CVS remodel; never saw that one as Longs. A real fun one is 8585 Elk Grove Blvd., sold to Longs in 1998 or whenever and it was actually a RA1 remodel, never understood how that got included. Longs reconfigured the aisles and painted but didn't do much else in there even keeping the old floor and CVS kept the old floor around refrigeration up until the last CVS remodel. Longs did full remodels to the Reno RA1s (new floors, straightened aisles, built stockrooms between front end and office and removed photo/ice cream) which was interesting.

The budget cuts in the stores seem like they've been going on for a while now. I am not sure if the intention is just to continue operating under reduced hours (I think the last couple earnings reports should show that this business of operating under reduced hours is not working well) and keep headcount cut for good or quite what the exact plan going forward is at this point. When the other end result of these budget cuts has been almost entire pharmacy staffs walking out and leaving busy stores with no or almost no pharmacy staff based in that store I think that is also a very serious problem that cannot continue.

[storewanderer]

I see they are saying there was $5 million in theft in NYC locations in the past quarter.
https://www.businessinsider.com/rite-ai ... ng-2022-10
They lost $311 million though $252 million of that was non-cash impairment and who knows what other non-cash is baked into the losses beyond that so $5 million of theft in NYC didn't exactly break their quarter.

I guess the bigger question is how much money did these stores make, after considering the theft? It seems to me if the stores lose money due to theft, the company can no longer afford to operate them given its losses at large and will need to sell them to CVS/Walgreens who seem to be able to operate stores there.

One solution of "putting everything behind lock and key" - interesting concept. You have self checkout in the NYC Stores and budgets on staffing seem like they've been cut significantly. Not clear this is a viable strategy given the circumstances I am noting. Also suspect so much would be lost in impulse sales that even if this cut down some theft, the amount of lost impulse sales, would cancel out all or most of the theft savings.

First thing I'd do if I had theft concerns was remove those self checkouts. Relocate them out to rural stores where theft isn't a concern. Rite Aid self checkouts do not have a weight limit database (not uncommon; Wal Mart deactivated that too and it appears Safeway also did at least at some locations), do not have a "monitor view" where an employee can watch from a different screen what the customer is scanning, etc. The only way the employee watches is to get up and stand behind the customer doing the scanning (and with the budget cuts.... who knows how that goes; also professional shoplifters will work in teams and distract the watching employee). An employee on a computer in some office somewhere could monitor the machines remotely but I'm not sure how much good that does, as response time takes too long if something is going funny.

Article also says per NYPD Statistics, petty theft is up 42% in NYC this year vs. last year.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

I find the whack-a-mole approach RAD is taking to their NYC theft problems concerning.Too many closures in the five boroughs didn't necessarily need to happen (queens and the Bronx each suffered a new closure since Labor Day on top of quite a few locations that flash-cut from 24-hour operations to out of business like that Woodland Hills Thrifty and even Walnut/23rd in Philly).They don't seem willing to invest in asset protection staff(even in key West Coast markets).We don't see CVS or Walgreens/Duane reade closing NYC locations en masse (even though Walgreens has closed quite a few SF locations in recent years).

The loss of 900 Sunrise in Roseville as it turns out is far from the only location involved in the 2007 Long's swap to be out of business as a drugstore.The south Mercer Island store(68th street or avenue)that RAD also got in the same swap closed this past spring:that store appears to be undersized enough that it was signed as Long's Pharmacy and may have initially been an independent that Long's acquired.Of course,the RAD turned Long's in Sparks was closed by CVS due to redundancy with existing locations including a sav-on that has long been 24-hours at least on a front end basis.

The growing RAD coverage hole in the northeastern Sacramento metro may have quietly began in earnest under Thrifty,as they had a short-lived Granite Bay location (an Ace hardware franchise either occupies this building or the former Jumbo supermarket in the same center on the SEC Douglas/Auburn Folsom)that closed by 1991.A 1990-ish raleys (lost its pharmacy three years ago) would be the community's only pharmacy until both Long's and Walgreens opened locations in the early 2000's.

Some clarification on my past post:Of the thirty plus Payless locations that RAD divested to Long's fall 1999, West El Camino is the only one I've visited since that transaction (both times as CVS in 2010).I do recall visiting Rocklin granite drive in the late 1980's(the family occasionally went to a nearby bowling alley back then),and it seemed to have enough of an oddball interior(an interior garden area in addition to wall graphics inconsistent with a typical store of that time)for me to suspect that it was initially either a pay-n-save or value Giant before becoming payless.A second location (mothballed)was planned around 1990 on the swc sunset/Stanford Ranch as part of a never-built center that would have also included what would have been the first Lucky in town.

It appears that some people on the Rite Aid investors Reddit are suddenly calling for CFO Matt Schroeder's head.As I see it, I wonder how much worse off the company could be had heyward donigan not retain the services of this Bob Miller holdover.

Lastly,it appears that the 5409 Sunrise building is owned by RAD outright which would make it a handful of acquired Thrifty Payless real estate assets that they still own outright (North Highlands Payless is definitely one of them),and I suspect that there are others.As long as the chances of them pulling a downtown Ontario or Kent Pacific highway on my store remains lower than the NFL producing a second undefeated Super Bowl champion,all will be well.

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[storewanderer]

I find the whack-a-mole approach RAD is taking to their NYC theft problems concerning.Too many closures in the five boroughs didn't necessarily need to happen (queens and the Bronx each suffered a new closure since Labor Day on top of quite a few locations that flash-cut from 24-hour operations to out of business like that Woodland Hills Thrifty and even Walnut/23rd in Philly).They don't seem willing to invest in asset protection staff(even in key West Coast markets).We don't see CVS or Walgreens/Duane reade closing NYC locations en masse (even though Walgreens has closed quite a few SF locations in recent years).

The loss of 900 Sunrise in Roseville as it turns out is far from the only location involved in the 2007 Long's swap to be out of business as a drugstore.The south Mercer Island store(68th street or avenue)that RAD also got in the same swap closed this past spring:that store appears to be undersized enough that it was signed as Long's Pharmacy and may have initially been an independent that Long's acquired.Of course,the RAD turned Long's in Sparks was closed by CVS due to redundancy with existing locations including a sav-on that has long been 24-hours at least on a front end basis.

The growing RAD coverage hole in the northeastern Sacramento metro may have quietly began in earnest under Thrifty,as they had a short-lived Granite Bay location (an Ace hardware franchise either occupies this building or the former Jumbo supermarket in the same center on the SEC Douglas/Auburn Folsom)that closed by 1991.A 1990-ish raleys (lost its pharmacy three years ago) would be the community's only pharmacy until both Long's and Walgreens opened locations in the early 2000's.

Some clarification on my past post:Of the thirty plus Payless locations that RAD divested to Long's fall 1999, West El Camino is the only one I've visited since that transaction (both times as CVS in 2010).I do recall visiting Rocklin granite drive in the late 1980's(the family occasionally went to a nearby bowling alley back then),and it seemed to have enough of an oddball interior(an interior garden area in addition to wall graphics inconsistent with a typical store of that time)for me to suspect that it was initially either a pay-n-save or value Giant before becoming payless.



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Rocklin was signed as Payless in the late 80's, so I wonder if it was a Value Giant. I don't think it was a Pay N Save. The Garden Center in Rocklin looks sort of similar to Auburn Bell Road. There was also a Payless in Red Bluff in the Food Maxx center with a very similar looking garden center.

I thought 4130 Douglas in Granite Bay was also a Thrifty before but gone long before Rite Aid. That center had Albertsons which may or may not have opened with a pharmacy in the late 80's but wouldn't have lasted long as Albertsons got out of pharmacy in NorCal in 1992 or so (Ralphs did add one).

The Auburn Folsom Thrifty was in what is now "ROOM" Furniture. It seems Thrifty did a lot of stores in the 80's that closed fast. They opened two stores in Reno in the late 80's and closed them by the early 90's; Longs reopened both after they were vacant for a couple years and both are now fairly busy CVS units.

Here I think the long term CFO is the only reason things have gone as far as they have without completely falling apart...

Longs went wild and crazy with stores in Sparks: These stores were a bunch of losers and only existed so Longs could operate slot machines as they owned and operated their own slot machines.
Longs and Sav-On always installed the maximum number of slot machines in Nevada Stores (often 20 machines per store with an employee there to sell you rolls of quarters while you were sitting at the machine and a cooler with free soda). Thrifty threw 3-4 machines up front that were unattended, I think you got quarters from the cashier to play the slots or maybe they had a change machine like an arcade, I can't remember. The RA1s opened with about 12 machines but were not always attended.
175 Disc Drive - 00's store closed by CVS in merger, was newer and did not have much chance to build traffic
Prater Rite Aid - RA1 converted to Longs, low volume as Longs (was busier as Rite Aid), closed by CVS in merger
Prater/McCarran Longs (former Payless) - low volume store closed by CVS in merger
2464 Wingfield Springs Drive Longs - built by Longs during merger, decor done but work stopped when shelves were partially put up, then never opened by CVS
Oddie Blvd. original Longs - bad neighborhood and a bad store, this was a very poor Longs and an absolutely terrible CVS; closed by CVS in 2021
This left CVS at present with:
Prater/McCarran Sav-On - high volume 24 hour store
Sparks Blvd. CVS - built by CVS right after Sav-On merger, this does relatively well but is very small
Disc Drive CVS - built by Longs in 00's, extremely low volume, surprised it stays open

[norcalriteaidclerk]

https://sanatogapost.com/2022/10/04/lim ... d-closing/

Not just NorCal where customer world builds are suddenly getting the axe:quite a few East Coast units have suffered the same fate(including one of the locations in Cherry Hill, New Jersey).At least this store's records are simply going a town over and not sold to a competitor (CVS is the spirited challenger in the longtime RAD home state while the Pennsylvania Walgreens store count remains relatively paltry). Another such unit closed recently in central Pasco, Washington (one location remains there).Two closed Coachella valley locations (Palm desert Washington and central Indio)were also customer world prototypes as was 2990 East nees in Fresno.

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.

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