Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Went into a Rite Aid in Sacramento on Kiefer Blvd. This is the worst store condition I have ever seen at Rite Aid. The shelves were less than 50% stocked throughout the store. They had numerous pallets of goods all over the store. They had an entire seasonal aisle blocked by pallets and the aisle still had merchandise on it (merchandise that is on clearance now), completely inaccessible. I could not find anything I went in for, which was a group of about 8 ad items, everything I was looking for was out of stock. There were 3 employees standing around checkout talking the entire time I was there, and pharmacy was busy (steady traffic coming and going and 4-5 customers waiting at any given time). The store did not have constant traffic at checkout and also has self checkouts. The freezers were "out of order" yet still had product inside, so someone was thoughtful enough to add "spoiled product" to the note about out of order posted on the freezers.

I am starting to think Rite Aid is not interested in continuing. Went into some other stores in the area that were clean and neat, but still a lot of problems with items not being in stock (this was in core OTC/HBA categories) and at this point even stores that aren't much over 20k square feet have multiple empty aisles, empty wall space, and far from enough inventory. Also customer traffic seemed lower in some of these stores than I remember it being in the past. Not sure when they plan to fix these issues. Walgreens and CVS Stores do not look like these Rite Aids look in terms of lack of inventory.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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storewanderer wrote: October 28th, 2022, 11:27 pm Went into a Rite Aid in Sacramento on Kiefer Blvd. This is the worst store condition I have ever seen at Rite Aid. The shelves were less than 50% stocked throughout the store. They had numerous pallets of goods all over the store. They had an entire seasonal aisle blocked by pallets and the aisle still had merchandise on it (merchandise that is on clearance now), completely inaccessible. I could not find anything I went in for, which was a group of about 8 ad items, everything I was looking for was out of stock. There were 3 employees standing around checkout talking the entire time I was there, and pharmacy was busy (steady traffic coming and going and 4-5 customers waiting at any given time). The store did not have constant traffic at checkout and also has self checkouts. The freezers were "out of order" yet still had product inside, so someone was thoughtful enough to add "spoiled product" to the note about out of order posted on the freezers.

I am starting to think Rite Aid is not interested in continuing. Went into some other stores in the area that were clean and neat, but still a lot of problems with items not being in stock (this was in core OTC/HBA categories) and at this point even stores that aren't much over 20k square feet have multiple empty aisles, empty wall space, and far from enough inventory. Also customer traffic seemed lower in some of these stores than I remember it being in the past. Not sure when they plan to fix these issues. Walgreens and CVS Stores do not look like these Rite Aids look in terms of lack of inventory.
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That inherited late-1970's/early-1980's former Thrifty(garden center was added in the RA-1 conversion,since remodeled into the first-generation Wellness decor)in the Rosemont community has traditionally been a productive store in a low competition area(nearest pharmacy competition being the venerable Folsom Boulevard Raleys which was a holdover from their disastrous 'Miracle Mart' experiment of the 1960's).There are a few factors here with the posted pictures of this store(I last visited it in October 2019 before the pandemic spread beyond Wuhan and a fellow colleague from 7900 Arcadia ultimately ended up here after her 'new' store at 8368 Elk Grove-Florin closed.):They either just got their truckload delivered(weekly truckloads are delivered on weekdays,and based on the rolling schedules they could very well currently receive their shipments on Fridays)and given their limited warehouse space had to put it out on the floor(very common with the RA-1 units).Additionally,they could presumably have staffing issues of their own which clearly means that they are behind on processing truck.The walk-in freezers in the RA-1 units have sadly been known to fail on occasion over the years.This along with Rancho Cordova are the only known Sacramento RAD locations with self checkout.

I do myself have to wonder if RAD has devolved into a 'quiet quitting' company.Even after absorbing the majority of the(mostly management)front end staff from 900 Sunrise,5409 Sunrise still doesn't have sufficient front end staff to resume normal posted hours(pharmacy hasn't had these issues...yet)as two supervisors bailed within the past several weeks(one had joined from Cameron Park after that place closed,while a 900 Sunrise transfer opted to return to her prior job at Safeway)and our new management team remains hamstrung because labor hours remain cut and they still aren't allowed to hire additional employees.In fact despite that the fact that the pharmacy is still maintaining its hours(even as pharmacy departments in a number of RAD California locations are starting again to close at 8 on weekdays not just in/around Sacramento)I'm noticing that even pharmacy volume at my store has dropped quite a bit(lines at any given time in that department are becoming rare).While pharmacy staff turnover hasn't been enough to impact their operating hours,it seems that a decent percentage of the pharmacy clientele has opted to transfer their prescriptions elsewhere.

In respect to the updated property surplus listing,it does appear that 900 Sunrise had a Longs-inherited 25 year lease based on the end date.I had assumed a 20-year term initially.In any case,at least a dozen California dark-store leases are set to come off the books within the next couple calendar years(restructured debt isn't due until 2025).Next year,dark leases will lapse at six closed California RAD locations:
  • Thousand Oaks Westlake(actual street address is 3825 East Thousand Oaks,this just closed within the past month)which is interesting since it shared a center with 2 pharmacy-less grocery stores
  • 1905 Monument in Concord(early-1990's Payless Drug that opened before the merger with Thrifty and presumably on a 30-year lease,this was a rough store in an awful neighborhood)
  • The Fairway Park Thrifty at 31091 Mission in Hayward which despite being old enough to be an original Thrifty(the center was built in 1957)initially was a Woolworth's and didn't become a Thrifty until 1976 after the departure of Woolworth.This was thus 5K SF smaller than a typical Thrifty of this era(i.e.,5712 Folsom)and thus lacked a hand-dip counter.
  • Santa Clarita Bouquet Canyon
  • Beverly Hills Bedford(expiring at the end of March in fact)
  • Sacramento/7900 Florin which opened as Thrifty in the mid-1980's and was the next-to-last new Thrifty Drug in Sacramento(7465 Rush River opened a few years later only to be divested to Longs when Thrifty merged with Payless,the nearby Pay-n-Save turned Payless at 980 Florin remains one of the best performing RAD Sacramento locations).Among the eight local locations closed in 2018-2019,this was the only one whose pharmacy files simply went to a nearby RAD(7860 Gerber is a 1990-ish SotF Payless that got a Rite Choice repaint around 2000 but kept the 45-degree layout until getting the Wellness 2.0 downsize remodel)instead of getting sold.
Additional California dark leases are also set to expire in 2024:
  • Los Gatos which was likely branded as Payless as it was opened under Thrifty Payless since the center was built circa 1995 when Whole Paycheck Whole Foods opened
  • Sacramento/1125 Alhambra which opened early 1999 replacing the independent Saint Lukes Pharmacy which Payless purchased in the early 1990's,this dark store is on a 25-year lease and considering that this was a traditionally lucrative store(enough that for much of its existence was an extended hours store that twice was 24 hours)I do wonder if shrink was a factor in its demise as it was on the bleeding edge of great and awful neighborhoods.
  • San Diego/6405 El Cajon which based on the back side and listed square footage inconsistent with RAD-planned prototypes was an older building though I don't know whether it was a former Thrifty or an older grocery store.
  • Santa Monica/1808 Wilshire which was initially a Mayfair Market and didn't become a drugstore(Thrifty)until after Mayfair disappeared
As for why 5712 Folsom(2024 expiration)and Roseville Pleasant Grove have dropped off the list,it appears that Spirit Halloween(which has stores at those addresses)may have saved those for next Halloween as well.Additionally,the Woodland Hills Thrifty(also off the list)had a 2024 lease sunset as well(Halloween City is subleasing this).

That said,it's safe to say that founder Alex Grass has been continually rolling in his grave and won't be able to rest in peace anytime soon,as John Standley(far from blameless for the current troubles)succeeded Mary Sammons(which nominally was the last good CEO the company had)not long after the passing of the elder Grass.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Well I went into the Truckee Rite Aid today and it is still only open 9-6 and Pharmacy is closed Saturday/Sunday. However the store, I cannot believe it, the store sales floor is neat and fully stocked. The store is stocked better than any Rite Aid I've seen in months. They had items in stock that have been out of stock at other Rite Aid locations for months now, not sure how they did it (maybe it was just working a bunch of old freight in the back room). Only saw one employee working in the store today but obviously they had an army in there to get that place fixed.

One busy ski weekend in December and the store will be slaughtered with only 2-3 units of each SKU on the shelf. They need to get it to a 5-6 units per SKU on the shelf in that store for the ski season.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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norcalriteaidclerk wrote: October 29th, 2022, 4:57 pm
That inherited late-1970's/early-1980's former Thrifty(garden center was added in the RA-1 conversion,since remodeled into the first-generation Wellness decor)in the Rosemont community has traditionally been a productive store in a low competition area(nearest pharmacy competition being the venerable Folsom Boulevard Raleys which was a holdover from their disastrous 'Miracle Mart' experiment of the 1960's).There are a few factors here with the posted pictures of this store(I last visited it in October 2019 before the pandemic spread beyond Wuhan and a fellow colleague from 7900 Arcadia ultimately ended up here after her 'new' store at 8368 Elk Grove-Florin closed.):They either just got their truckload delivered(weekly truckloads are delivered on weekdays,and based on the rolling schedules they could very well currently receive their shipments on Fridays)and given their limited warehouse space had to put it out on the floor(very common with the RA-1 units).Additionally,they could presumably have staffing issues of their own which clearly means that they are behind on processing truck.The walk-in freezers in the RA-1 units have sadly been known to fail on occasion over the years.This along with Rancho Cordova are the only known Sacramento RAD locations with self checkout.

I'm noticing that even pharmacy volume at my store has dropped quite a bit(lines at any given time in that department are becoming rare).While pharmacy staff turnover hasn't been enough to impact their operating hours,it seems that a decent percentage of the pharmacy clientele has opted to transfer their prescriptions elsewhere.

It appeared the store is open until 10 PM, but I may have missed a sign about store hours being cut. I was surprised to see actual pallets out on the floor for core categories; in the past I've only seen pallets on the floor for unstocked seasonal goods. Plastic totes are usually just stacked around somewhere.

I think pharmacy volumes are in a bit of a quiet period right now. The vaccine programs have slowed way down despite flu shots being something that should be busy right now, and we are sort of in a quiet period before flu season/winter ramps up hard. Other potentially bad thing would be if some folks are reevaluating their pharmacy/medicine spend as part of budget cuts due to all of the price hikes on everything, and for folks talking prescriptions that they are choosing to take (which I think is generally a pretty small percentage of scripts dispensed) vs. have to take, a decision may be being made to cut the elective prescriptions out. Or have some insurance plans made the push to do mail order more aggressive recently?

The sooner leases roll off of the books the better. I thought Standley was great until he decided he wanted to merge or sell the company and couldn't seem to let go of the idea of selling out. I even thought selling the junk stores in the South off to Walgreens was a good idea (those were not very high volume at all) but for whatever reason despite keeping what I thought was the best of Rite Aid (West Coast, PA, MI, and some scattered stuff elsewhere in the East), the smaller chain has not worked well financially. I do wonder if Standley had run the smaller chain and actually wanted to run it, if things would have gone differently.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Pharmacies all over are experiencing customers cutting back on prescriptions. Many insurances have raised their copays in recent months. Insurances always raise their copays periodically, but the inflation excuse has caused Insurances to be even bolder and raising them by huge amounts. How does inflation influence drug prices? Perhaps with the supply problems in other countries. There are many more drugs now that are not available from factories due to shortages of ingredients from foreign countries.

It is probably just an excuse by insurance companies to raise prices. Many customers are cutting back on prescriptions. They are switching from expensive drugs to cheaper and less effective older drugs for things such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

Some people may take less insulin to make their supply stretch longer. Or they may switch to cheaper Walmart $24.88 bottles of insulin instead of more expensive modern prescription insulin.

Every little bit of cost cutting does result in pharmacies filling fewer prescriptions. Many customers are making fewer trips out to the pharmacy due to gas prices. This results in reduced impulse sales at pharmacies and people are neglecting to take their medications on time.

People are neglecting their health to save money and it is affecting pharmacies causing labor hours to be cut due to fewer prescription sales. This causes pharmacy employees to be even more overworked due to understaffing and shortened pharmacy hours. If the pharmacy is closed on weekends then customers might miss doses of their medications. It is a vicious cycle.

Many insurances run by CVS Caremark force customers to use mail order after 3 fills of a particular medications at a pharmacy. When customers try to dispute this, the insurance tells them they have no choice. Many customers hate this, and often pay out of pocket rather than wait for mail order. For example, antibiotics or chest pain medication is often needed right away. People do not want to wait for mail order. CVS Caremark is the insurance that many customers complain about. Many customers grudgingly accept mail order and then switch insurances the next year. CVS Caremark should realize that they are losing out on customers. However, CVS Caremark only cares about profitable mail order customers who are forced to use CVS Caremark mail order pharmacies.

Most other insurances do not force customers to use mail order. It is mainly a CVS requirement.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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I suspect the shopping cart issue can be addressed by putting plastic poles on the carts and not letting the carts out of the store. Definite inconvenience for customers buying large transactions, maybe they can pull up to the door and have one of the 2-3 employees on duty help get the items from the cart into their car. Otherwise they are probably going to lose the carts. I see the carts can be picked up within 30 days but after that are impounded.

I was in another store, rural, which I won't label, that had its Christmas almost fully set over the weekend. I am guessing nobody is out there much to supervise.

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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storewanderer wrote:I suspect the shopping cart issue can be addressed by putting plastic poles on the carts and not letting the carts out of the store. Definite inconvenience for customers buying large transactions, maybe they can pull up to the door and have one of the 2-3 employees on duty help get the items from the cart into their car. Otherwise they are probably going to lose the carts. I see the carts can be picked up within 30 days but after that are impounded.

I was in another store, rural, which I won't label, that had its Christmas almost fully set over the weekend. I am guessing nobody is out there much to supervise.

I can't figure out what is going on with the Reddit.
The investor Reddit still works.
The other Citrus Heights store(6661 Auburn)does have such tall pole carts though with a couple spares without such poles.Better part of town in general.

I highly suspect an HQ friendly agitator complained to the reddit abuse team about the general content of the posts(I am far from the only tortured employee on that reddit.)which is why new posts haven't been permitted for at least a couple weeks though commenting in older threads remains permissible.Even without reddit it's safe to say that the company's laundry list of operational deficiencies has long been an open secret.

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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I find it fascinating someone could get that Reddit shut down. If you go over to the Reddit for Target, Wal Mart, CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, there are all kinds of horror stories and complaints going around from employees, mocking of customers, mocking of management, photos, and other things far beyond what I ever saw on the Rite Aid reddit (or see on the Safeway reddit which is a very tame Reddit).
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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storewanderer wrote:I find it fascinating someone could get that Reddit shut down. If you go over to the Reddit for Target, Wal Mart, CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, there are all kinds of horror stories and complaints going around from employees, mocking of customers, mocking of management, photos, and other things far beyond what I ever saw on the Rite Aid reddit (or see on the Safeway reddit which is a very tame Reddit).
Those other chains mentioned are actually reasonably stable however.It is evident that 1200 Intrepid is running scared considering the fy2023q2 earnings debacle has triggered multiple pending shareholder class action lawsuits.

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