Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: June 25th, 2022, 11:54 am
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: June 25th, 2022, 11:41 am
storewanderer wrote: June 25th, 2022, 11:21 am Sav-On always performed well for Albertsons. It was never a poorly performing asset. Using the grocery approach on the drugstores was always solid as it drove foot traffic, plus Sav-On had excellent locations. While Albertsons may have been tough on labor in their stores, pharmacy was one part of the stores where they never made a bunch of rapid and sudden labor cuts. Sav-On was also a very high volume retailer of liquor and the liquor program is one that Albertsons never messed with, it really drove traffic to have the assortment and pricing on liquor that Sav-On had. CVS has basically given that up; they have liquor, but nobody is buying it unless out of convenience.
Albertsons used the drug stores for their dual-branding (Albertsons/Sav-on or Albertsons/Osco) format. This format was first done in Reno, Arizona, then Omaha. To me, this was the best idea from the Larry-era ABS. I'm surprised Montana (Osco had a few stores there) and SoCal never got the dual-branding format early on.
I don't know why they added Sav-on branding to pharmacies in the Acme or Florida divisions.
Behind the paper, SoCal (and NorCal) still had dual branded stores because the large Lucky Sav-On Stores that got converted to Albertsons retained their giant drug mix as if they were still a dual branded store. I did not see NM in the early 00's but suspect it was the same story there. What they didn't keep doing was running Sav-On ads/promotions...

El Paso had dual branded stores too.

The dual branded format in Reno basically shifted the drug side of the store to drug's mix and drug's shelf tags, and brought in one hour photo. It also put video rental, liquor, and candy under drug's control. Since the stores (all but 2 at the time) had the horizontal aisles it was really easy to split off the stores and give the vertical aisles to grocery and the horizontal aisles to drug (and that is largely what they did, save for a couple horizontal aisles that houses pet and paper which were part of food). In Sparks (Oddie) there was one Albertsons with no pharmacy (lease restriction, smaller store that had a terrible expansion in the late 90's) and when the dual brand concept came to Reno, despite not having the dual branding, the drug aisles in that store were shifted to Sav-On mix, shelf tags, and ran the Sav-On ad. Save Mart closed that store after a couple years of operation, it basically lost all of its business as Save Mart due to how awful Save Mart was. This was one of those situations where Albertsons was able to perform relatively well even in a lower income area.

There was a lot of marketing around the dual brand concept when it was done in Reno and at the time Albertsons was largely holding its own in Reno against Wal Mart Supercenter opening multiple stores over a few years. Scolaris, Smiths, and Safeway were getting absolutely killed (many store closures followed). I think the concept did not get them any extra customers but the marketing surrounding it may have helped them keep some traffic that may have otherwise moved to Wal Mart. Also Intermountain had a price compete program that they put into place at one store where they had a Sav-On next door that they closed in the combo store conversion process (Reno-N. McCarran) when Wal Mart opened across the street and it got the prices in the store down drastically and combined with aggressive ads and the combo store program that store stayed as busy as ever after Wal Mart opened (Safeway lost 20-40% of its volume across the street doing absolutely nothing to compete). Albertsons also imported a manager from Jewel Osco to run that store. Someone really wanted that store to make a big splash (but not enough to remodel it out of blue gray decor). When the Reno Albertsons moved to NorCal division that price cut program was eliminated on the grocery side but it stayed in place on the drug side up until the company dissolved and business at the store really fell off without the aggressive promotions and price cut program. That store is still open as Save Mart, unremodeled and hardly does any business.
There are several Albertsons "premium fresh and healthy" decor units I've seen that are beginning remodels, not sure what decor package they're getting but this time the signs are being changed on the front of the store and Sav-On name is being removed. The stores are getting large Albertsons Pharmacy signs. Pharmacy is in the same exact font as the current Safeway logo. It's so large that if you weren't familiar with the brand you would think this is Albertsons the drugstore, not Albertsons the supermarket. Corona, CA, Temecula Parkway area and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: June 26th, 2022, 12:52 am
There are several Albertsons "premium fresh and healthy" decor units I've seen that are beginning remodels, not sure what decor package they're getting but this time the signs are being changed on the front of the store and Sav-On name is being removed. The stores are getting large Albertsons Pharmacy signs. Pharmacy is in the same exact font as the current Safeway logo. It's so large that if you weren't familiar with the brand you would think this is Albertsons the drugstore, not Albertsons the supermarket. Corona, CA, Temecula Parkway area and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head.
I have noticed over time those Osco or Sav-On signs have been coming down in a lot of regions.

I think the co-branding, outside of Jewel Osco, is basically a dead program and over. In the stores they "got back" from Haggen, I don't think they did any co-branding either. I think they just put up an Albertsons sign.

It is interesting since they said they were going to have cobranded Albertsons Rite Aid, Safeway Rite Aid, etc. pharmacy with the Rite Aid merger they attempted to do. Then again that was a different management team of Albertsons, most of that management team has retired/moved on.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by jamcool »

We still have the “Sav-On” co-banner on several Albertsons stores in Phoenix.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

jamcool wrote: June 26th, 2022, 11:03 am We still have the “Sav-On” co-banner on several Albertsons stores in Phoenix.
I think it's Osco in most of Arizona (except for Yuma, which had 2 Sav-on stores that CVS bought).
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by pseudo3d »

I believe Southwest (of which El Paso was, but they're on slightly different programs) was mostly branded as Osco. I think that Shaw's got Osco as well but ACME and South got Sav-on (not sure on Rocky Mountain).

When LLC took over, they stopped advertising it with the co-brands and eventually took down some of the signs with it (which may or may not have been re-centered, especially when it wasn't with a renovation). They advertised their stores as "Albertsons Market" (revived under United) but that was never on signage, even for the few stores they opened.

Where Sav-on was actually more prominent and not just a meaningless name as it had been in the South division, I think there were a few places where Sav-on was a separate store and you could enter it from the Albertsons next door. I'm not sure how that shook out in the CVS sale.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: June 25th, 2022, 11:21 am
buckguy wrote: June 25th, 2022, 11:10 am Rite-Aid's strength at least in terms of continuing store counts seems to be concentrated in areas where they were able to acquire a dominant chain: Toledo (Lane's), Pittsburgh (Thrifty), Erie (the original Eckerd) or where they already were established like eastern PA. I think Perry (which they bought) was probably a decent competitor to Arbor (bought by CVS), although Perry had been in a long retreat from its markets outside of Michigan. Gray Drug gave them a strong second position in some Ohio markets which they seem to have lost, and a weak position in DC (some stores spunoff to Walgreen). Rite-Aid still has stores in Baltimore where they had bought the dominant Read's chain, but where Peoples (CVS) also operated. They got lucky for awhile with the Thrifty end of Thrifty Payless in that CVS and Walgreen weren't gaining much traction with their purpose built stores in southern California and Albertson's didn't know what to with Sav-On. The south eastern Eckerd operations probably have been a drag on them as they got the weaker regions (CVS got the stronger ones).
Most of the Southeastern Eckerd regions, Rite Aid sold to Walgreens. Also the hard south like AL, GA, LA, etc. From the best I can tell, most of those were dog stores. There may have been some patches of okay stores, but they weren't former Eckerds, and I never saw them. The company's finances should have improved significantly when they got rid of those but for some reason it is just more of the same.

Despite closure activity that may lead one to assume otherwise, Rite Aid's SoCal Stores are quite busy. From a foot traffic perspective, they have much higher foot traffic than any other Rite Aids I've ever seen. They also typically have longer store hours. Thrifty was a good chain in SoCal, it had good locations. Payless was also a very good chain in its time that ran high volume stores (very large stores) but the time for a chain like that has long passed.

Sav-On always performed well for Albertsons. It was never a poorly performing asset. Using the grocery approach on the drugstores was always solid as it drove foot traffic, plus Sav-On had excellent locations. While Albertsons may have been tough on labor in their stores, pharmacy was one part of the stores where they never made a bunch of rapid and sudden labor cuts. Sav-On was also a very high volume retailer of liquor and the liquor program is one that Albertsons never messed with, it really drove traffic to have the assortment and pricing on liquor that Sav-On had. CVS has basically given that up; they have liquor, but nobody is buying it unless out of convenience.
Did Rite Aid even have all of the Eckerd stores to begin with? I thought CVS had bought them in a few areas (more southern from what I remember) back at the same time that Jean Couteau took over the ones in the more northern areas to merge with their existing Brooks chain for a time, before Rite Aid bought that whole combination.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

Getting things back on track...

The official locator at rite aid(dot)com lists 2451 locations which is obviously out of date.A third-party data aggregator(scrape hero)lists 2289 active RAD locations as of last weekend (the 18th and as late as July 10).

https://www.scrapehero.com/location-rep ... 20Aid-USA/

Among the top ten states that still have RAD locations,this breaks down to:
  • 494 Pennsylvania locations
  • 488 California locations
  • 281 New York state locations
  • 251 Michigan locations
  • 202 Ohio locations
  • 126 Washington state locations
  • 115 New Jersey locations
  • 70 Oregon locations
  • 64 Virginia locations
  • 59 New Hampshire locations
All figures exclude Bartell locations.

As the official locator has not pruned closures since the fall 2020 dot-com relaunch in connection with new logo and imaging,a total of 162 closures have occurred within the past 20 months,but not all are attributable to the 145 announced in connection with the 2022q3 and 2022q4 earnings calls.I have been able to verify that a minimum of 16 closures actually occurred between October 2020 and September 2021: Determining the waybacked closures(between the new logo launch and last September)in New York, New Jersey,and Pennsylvania may be a little tricker(timing of the East Coast closures may never be truly determined mainly due to the fact that some locations in those states have had very few online reviews);but as long as there were fewer than 20 chainwide closures during the first 12 months since the new logo was launched, it'll be a lot easier for me to truly determine whether the closures are truly done or not(though I personally hope that they are done).

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Last edited by norcalriteaidclerk on June 26th, 2022, 7:00 pm, edited 12 times in total.
For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

Went into the South Lake Tahoe location today. First time in a while. Could not believe the conditions. I should have known it was a bad sign in the middle of the afternoon when the entire parking lot was deserted.

Only saw one employee in the place (cashier) and the store is dirty and poorly stocked throughout. Did not notice a sign about hours being reduced anymore so maybe they are open the posted hours.

The store seemed to be having "plumbing issues." There was a pallet of water blocking access to the restroom hallway (you need a key anyway) and a sign saying closed due to plumbing issues. The ice cream counter was also closed due to plumbing issues.

All 3 of the self checkouts were closed and turned facing the counter, and bags removed from the racks (must be closed for a while). I guess this doesn't matter when the store is deserted and there is no wait for the one cashier to check you out anyway.

Pathetic- summer weekend at South Lake Tahoe and this store has no customers. I cannot even believe it. In all the years I don't think I've ever seen this store empty of customers. This was very unusual. The three CVS all had moderate traffic.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote: June 26th, 2022, 9:00 pm Went into the South Lake Tahoe location today. First time in a while. Could not believe the conditions. I should have known it was a bad sign in the middle of the afternoon when the entire parking lot was deserted.

Only saw one employee in the place (cashier) and the store is dirty and poorly stocked throughout. Did not notice a sign about hours being reduced anymore so maybe they are open the posted hours.

The store seemed to be having "plumbing issues." There was a pallet of water blocking access to the restroom hallway (you need a key anyway) and a sign saying closed due to plumbing issues. The ice cream counter was also closed due to plumbing issues.

All 3 of the self checkouts were closed and turned facing the counter, and bags removed from the racks (must be closed for a while). I guess this doesn't matter when the store is deserted and there is no wait for the one cashier to check you out anyway.

Pathetic- summer weekend at South Lake Tahoe and this store has no customers. I cannot even believe it. In all the years I don't think I've ever seen this store empty of customers. This was very unusual. The three CVS all had moderate traffic.
Given the fact that even routine and even emergency maintenance(along with labor hours)have been cut back chainwide for a couple months,I have to wonder if things have suddenly spiraled beyond the control of the management.I don't believe that store's manager(came there from my store 10-11 months ago)would allow the place to deteriorate,unless that store suddenly has another new manager.

Meanwhile,5409 Sunrise on top of its own deteriorating physical state(never mind the roof,the self-service Fuji digital machine has been out of order for months)has its own staffing shortage that has been inviting to some of the wrong type of clientele(Citrus Heights city hall isn't exactly blameless either).Given the mass closures,I'd think that 30 Hunter Lane would try to shore up their go-forward locations instead of starving them of sorely-needed resources.
For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
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Re: Rite Aid closing at least 63 stores

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: June 30th, 2022, 11:18 pm

Given the fact that even routine and even emergency maintenance(along with labor hours)have been cut back chainwide for a couple months,I have to wonder if things have suddenly spiraled beyond the control of the management.I don't believe that store's manager(came there from my store 10-11 months ago)would allow the place to deteriorate,unless that store suddenly has another new manager.

Meanwhile,5409 Sunrise on top of its own deteriorating physical state(never mind the roof,the self-service Fuji digital machine has been out of order for months)has its own staffing shortage that has been inviting to some of the wrong type of clientele(Citrus Heights city hall isn't exactly blameless either).Given the mass closures,I'd think that 30 Hunter Lane would try to shore up their go-forward locations instead of starving them of sorely-needed resources.
Same store manager for about the past six months. The deterioration of the store had been happening for the past few years but got incredibly bad the past year. To say she is dealt a bad set of cards with that store is an understatement. I think the labor situation at that store doomed the previous store manager. There were some old, old employees in the store who moved on (they were from the Payless days) and finding replacements is not easy there.

South Lake Tahoe is a store that performed better before the Wellness remodel, than after.

Still, it had a good enough performance record a couple years ago to get those self checkouts installed...

I think the store in South Lake Tahoe suffers on conditions because you basically have there a late 70's Payless that then got the remodel in the late 80's or early 90's into 45 degree store (that was a complete thorough remodel job basically gutting the place and starting over) and after that it got nothing but the 2000 era repaint until it got the Wellness remodel in maybe 2017. While the Wellness remodel seemed very thorough (new flooring, downsized store, new shelving, install ice cream counter that is never open) it seems like it was really poorly done. I hesitate to say this may have been a store that would have been better off without the Wellness remodel. I can't think of another store where I would say that.
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