The shelves at Turlock’s Rite Aid drugstore on Monte Vista Avenue are slowly being emptied and signs posted on the store’s popular Thrifty counter state “No More Ice-Cream” with a cartoon cone sporting a frowny face. An employee of the local drugstore on Thursday confirmed to curious customers that the store will be closing its doors, but he didn’t know exactly when.
This is happening in Rite Aids across the country, as the struggling drugstore chain goes through another bankruptcy filing.
The company plans to sell customer prescription files, inventory and other assets as it closes distribution centers and unloads store locations. Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn't buying new inventory so bare shelves are likely become more common.
"I think what we'll progressively see is the stores will become more and more spartan," retail analyst Neil Saunders told the Associated Press.
The company runs 1,245 stores in 15 states, according to its website. It has a heavy presence in New York, Pennsylvania and California, which alone has 347 locations.
Rite Aid said it will be a few months for most of its stores to close, however, all locations will eventually close or be sold to a new owner.
Until then, customers will still be able to fill prescriptions, get immunizations and shop in the stores or online.
Rite Aid has said that it will stop issuing customer rewards points for purchases. It also will no longer honor gift cards or accept returns or exchanges starting next month.
The company said it is working to put together a "smooth transfer" of customer prescriptions to other pharmacies. But there's no guarantee those files will wind up at a retailer near the location that is closing.
Philadelphia-based Rite Aid had been closing stores and struggling with losses for years before its first bankruptcy filing in 2023. The company says its "only viable path forward" is a return to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
The company said in letter to vendors that it has been hit with several financial challenges that have grown more intense.
Rite Aid and its competitors have been dealing with tighter profits on their prescriptions, increased theft, court settlements over opioid prescriptions and customers who are drifting to online shopping and discount retailers.
Walgreens, which has more than six times as many stores as Rite Aid, agreed in March to be acquired by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
CVS Health also has closed stores.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
