Rite Aid shuts down all of their remaining stores

[bing101]

https://abc7ny.com/post/rite-aid-closes-last-stores-friday-declaring-bankruptcy-spring/17934215/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rite-aid-closing-all-locations-after-decades-in-business/


I remember at one point Rite Aid was one of the top three of Pharmacy stores around the country along with Walgreens and CVS. Their California stores used to be known as Thrifty Payless Drug stores prior to being renamed as Rite Aid in 1996. 

[bing101]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2025/07/01/thrifty-ice-cream-sold/84437266007/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2025/08/10/thrifty-ice-cream-monster-energy/85600411007/


I remember when Rite Aid was then known as Thrifty Drug Stores they used to have a store brand Ice Cream that's was considered their best selling product outside of prescription medicine. The Ice Cream brand that Rite Aid held for three decades since their expansion to California spun off to another company. 

[Scott5114]

So you're saying...those were the last Rites?

[Max Rockatansky]

The best thing they had going was that Thrifty brand ice cream counter.  I preferred it over the Baskin Robbin's a mile down Kings Canyon Road.

[hbelkins]

When Rite Aid sold off a bunch of stores a few years ago, my local Rite Aid changed to Walgreens. And the service has gone to crap. First they eliminated Sunday pharmacy hours, then Saturday hours, then cut their weekday hours back to where the pharmacy now closes at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. as it did as a Rite Aid. They no longer fill many of their prescriptions locally anymore. Just about every maintenance drug I take is filled at a central facility in Columbus, Ohio, and shipped to the local store.

I would switch to a locally-owned pharmacy, but they're not open during the hours I can go by pick up my prescriptions. I might also switch to Walmart, but it's usually a pain in the butt to go there and stand in line to pick them up.

[JayhawkCO]

I switched my pharmacy to the local Safeway. I used to use Walgreen's but every time I went in there, there'd be a line 5+ people deep or they'd be closed for a lunch break that always seemed to change times.

[bing101]

Check your health insurance policy to see where you can go for your medications now that Rite Aid is gone.  


https://content.riteaid.com/new-pharmacy-location.html


https://yourinsurance.info/what-insurance-does-rite-aid-accept/

Back then Rite Aid took health insurance from UnitedHealthCare, Blue Cross on this list. 

[Flint1979]

Rite Aid closed all their Michigan stores last year, that store sucked anyway.

[ZLoth]

Didn't RiteAid purchase Thrifty ages ago and retire the brand with the exception of the ice cream brand?

[bing101]

Didn't RiteAid purchase Thrifty ages ago and retire the brand with the exception of the ice cream brand?

Yes Thrifty Payless DrugStores was their name in California before Rite Aid took over and renamed it Rite Aid when they came to the Golden State. 

[Bruce]

Rite Aid bought up a local chain here (Bartell Drugs) a few years ago and systematically destroyed the brand. The service immediately took a nosedive, the long-held prescriptions failed to transfer over, stores couldn't keep their shelves stocked, and the offerings became worse and worse. It's sad that a century-old local institution got shredded for its few assets, with dozens of locations now closed for good.

The local Rite Aids are being converted to CVS or closed entirely, so hopefully this step in the cycle is better.

[mgk920]

Hmmm, how long before local guys step in to fill the voids?

Mike

[kkt]

Hmmm, how long before local guys step in to fill the voids?

Mike

Katterman's Sand Point Pharmacy, a single independent store, is certainly a whole lot busier.  Twice the staff and still has longer lines.

There aren't all that many local guys.  Many hospitals have pharmacies in them, but they tend to be very small and don't stock much in the way of over-the-counter medicines.

[bing101]

Hmmm, how long before local guys step in to fill the voids?

Mike

Which part of the country I have to look at where local guys fill the voids.

https://www.mygnp.com/

Good Neighbor Pharmacy may take the void in some places and in places where certain health insurance policies are accepted.

[hbelkins]

Hmmm, how long before local guys step in to fill the voids?

Mike

Katterman's Sand Point Pharmacy, a single independent store, is certainly a whole lot busier.  Twice the staff and still has longer lines.

There aren't all that many local guys.  Many hospitals have pharmacies in them, but they tend to be very small and don't stock much in the way of over-the-counter medicines.

Pharmacies are way overpriced for OTC medications. I get mine at Walmart (the Equate house brand) and, if necessary, at Dollar General.

[SP Cook]

Around here all of the Rite Aids were sold to Walgreen's.  Friend of mine got like $1000/store to swap out all of their computers which he could do like 2 a day.  He worked solid for over a year, and made some serious money. 

Back in the day, Rite Aid was a very predatory company.  They would come in a small town, undercut the local pharmacy on all the non-prescription stuff until the local pharmacist cried uncle and sold out to them, and then they made all their money back with high prices. 

Rite Aid was, in my experience, very poorly run.  The pharmacy department always took an hour to fill any prescription, be it a standard refill or a short term sickness drug.  CVS, which is the other major chain, never took more than a few minutes.  When Walgreen's took over, they solved whatever was wrong and its fine as well now.

My state went out of the retail liquor business back in the late 80s, and Rite Aid got the franchise in a lot of towns and this was bad, IMHO.  Nothing against liquor, you do you, but I would rather they had gone to a free-standing liquor store model.  I don't need to be hit up for money for "food" when I am in the parking lot of the drug store.

[Henry]

It's so sad to see a pharmacy titan fall as hard as Rite Aid has, but then again, I never dealt with them anyway. I come from a Walgreens family, who were also loyal to all the Chicago-based brands until the very end (Marshall Field, Montgomery Ward, Jewel-Osco, etc.).