As Rite Aid intends to close or sell all its stores amid a second bankruptcy filing earlier this month, several retail locations throughout Lackawanna, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties will be impacted.
In a letter to customers Monday, the company announced the majority of stores will remain open for the next few months, allowing patrons to continue accessing pharmacy services and products in stores and online, including prescriptions and immunizations.
“Recently, Rite Aid has experienced a number of financial challenges that have intensified as a result of the rapidly evolving retail and healthcare landscapes in which we operate,” company officials said in the letter. “After considering all alternatives to address these issues, the only viable path forward is to once again commence Chapter 11 proceedings to pursue a sale of our prescriptions, pharmacy and front-end inventory, and other assets.”
The shelves in the local stores may start looking emptier than usual.
The company announced it “generally” stopped purchasing goods and services, “except for those that it believes are essential …,” according to a letter sent to Rite Aid vendors.
The company also won’t honor gift cards or accept any returns or exchanges beginning June 5. And, as of Tuesday, customers no longer receive Rite Aid rewards points for purchases.
Rite Aid’s demise has been in the works for several years as the company first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2023 when it operated more than 2,300 locations. The company was weighed down by billions of dollars in debt, declining sales and more than 1,000 federal, state and local lawsuits claiming it filled thousands of illegal prescriptions for painkillers, according to a New York Times report.
At that time, Rite Aid announced plans to close more than 150 stores, including those in West Pittston and Tobyhanna.
The closure of the store on North Washington Avenue in Scranton in January 2024 marked the end of Rite Aid’s footprint in the city’s downtown.
Scranton native Alex Grass opened the first Thrif-D Discount Center on Lackawanna Avenue in September 1962. The 1,400-square-foot store specialized in bargain-priced personal care products, housewares and stationery. The company expanded to five states by 1965 and went public as Rite Aid in 1968.
By 2012, the company was saddled with debt — mostly accrued through costly acquisitions — and trailed its profitable and larger competitors, CVS and Walgreens.
In 1996, Rite Aid spent $1.6 billion to buy Thrifty Payless, a 1,000-store West Coast chain. In 2007, Rite Aid paid $3.4 billion to acquire more than 1,800 Eckerd and Brooks stores, according to Times-Tribune archives.