BIZNOTE: Rite Aid announces long-expected bankruptcy filing, says it will close some stores

Rite Aid announced tonight that – as long expected – it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its announcement says it’s arranged for $3.4 billion in financing, but expects to close “additional underperforming stores.” Rite Aid has two stores in West Seattle – California SW south of The Junction, and Westwood Village – and the company owns Bartell Drugs, which has two West Seattle stores, in Admiral and The Junction. As first reported here, the Bartell store in White Center was closed just two weeks ago. The announcement does not list stores planned for closure, and this “fact sheet” says, “While we do not yet know which stores will be closed, we will keep you informed as decisions are made.” No timeline is listed for those decisions. Meantime, if you’re interested in legal documents, a sheaf of them related to today’s filing can be found here. They include “first-day motions” on which a hearing will be held tomorrow before a federal bankruptcy judge in New Jersey, where the case was filed.

1994 October 15, 2023 (10:49 pm)

Pharmacies are becoming scarce. One time when I was at the WWV Rite Aid Pharmacy counter I asked how many prescriptions they fill per day as they are always super busy. 300 to 500 daily. I hope Rite Aid continues to operate in West Seattle. I really don’t like Walgreens. What other Pharmacies are in West Seattle?

HS October 16, 2023 (6:07 am)

I believe that both QFC and Safeway offer pharmacy services. In addition, although not in WS but a common WS shopping stop, Costco has a pharmacy. And as you mentioned, Walgreens also has a pharmacy.
- Bill October 16, 2023 (11:18 am)
  
  What pharmacy? in what QFC? – Not at Westwood!
  - WS Res October 16, 2023 (12:04 pm)
    
    Alaska Junction.
  - HS October 16, 2023 (12:11 pm)
    
    The QFC in the Junction. I responded to your comment about pharmacies in West Seattle.
  - WestsideNini October 16, 2023 (1:12 pm)
    
    I believe the QFC by the Junction has a small pharmacy. The Roxbury Safeway also has one

T October 15, 2023 (10:54 pm)

Let me guess which stores will be closed… hmmm I love Bartell drugs I go out of my way to drive to the north admiral store. Will see… .

Bill October 16, 2023 (11:20 am)

What Bartells – it doesn’t exist anymore — gotta love that consolidation meme!

Jeepney October 16, 2023 (5:05 am)

I always thought it was odd that Rite Aid was allowed to acquire Bartells. The Rite Aid’s that I have visited always seemed to have few customers and didn’t seem to busy, which was the opposite of Bartellls. It will be said to see a former locally owned business destroyed.

R October 16, 2023 (6:41 am)

Nooooooo. Bartell Drugs in Admiral is my favorite store in the neighborhood. The employees are so kind at that location. Crossing fingers and toes.

Seattlite October 16, 2023 (7:51 am)

I know the Rite Aid I go to has had a huge amount of shoplifting. If the shoplifting is going on at a lot of Rite Aid stores, it obviously hits the bottom line for profits. Also, the Rite Aid Pharmacy I use has declined in its efficiency and dependability. Recently, I picked up my regular prescription of meds in pill form. Instead of giving me one container with the correct number of pills in the container that matched the typed label on the container, I was given a container that did not contain the number of pills typed on the container’s label and then given a second container of pills to equal the total on the first container’s typed label. I told the person waiting on me that I would not accept the prescription unless all the pills were in one container with the correct pill count on the container’s typed label. They corrected their lazy first attempt and I was given one container of pills with the pill count being the same as what was typed on the container’s label.

WS Res October 16, 2023 (12:06 pm)

Stores won’t hire enough staff (can’t hire for the wages they want to offer, sometimes). Walgreens just had pharmacists walk out at many locations last week because they’re tired of being made to work 12-hour shifts alone, handling prescriptions, phone calls, vaccines, etc. Blame the corporation, not the person waiting on you.
Healthcare worker October 16, 2023 (2:29 pm)

This was not a “lazy attempt”. This was industry standard. If a pharmacy has 2 brands of the same medication in stock that are generically equivalent, they will use up Brand X before staring to use Brand Y. If you have a prescription for 30 pills and they have 25 of Brand X in stock, they will give you 25 of Brand X and 5 of Brand Y. They are required to dispense them in 2 different bottles. Anyway, defending my former profession. The commentary here saddens me. Pharmacists go to school for 7 years and every comment here treats them like a commodity. Exactly why I retired. Dying profession.
Focal October 16, 2023 (6:31 pm)

wild to hone in on shoplifting as what’s impacting Rite Aid’s bottom
line. if you looked into it at all you’d see that their only growth was
thru consolidated, insiders have been gutting the company, and on top of
that it was being prosecuted for accelerating and fueling the opioid
epidemic which was literally going to cost them (via litigation, payouts, etc.) magnitudes more than a decade’s worth of shrink.

East Coast Cynic October 16, 2023 (8:24 am)

I had to move my prescriptions from Walgreens to Rite Aid because they stopped taking my insurance for some important prescription medications I have. I like the one south of the Junction for they tend to be pretty timely in filling my prescriptions. If they close both, I hope some other pharmacy player comes in the mix, e.g., CVS rather than Walgreens, instead of closing one or both places and leaving them empty and fodder for some apartment/townhouse development.

Bill October 16, 2023 (11:25 am)

CVS????????Your whole post is nothing but predictions of reality to come! – Enjoy!
- WSB October 16, 2023 (11:53 am)
  
  A bit of history – CVS wanted to build a standalone West Seattle drugstore at 4722 Fauntleroy Way in the mid-2010s; after an arduous design-review process, they pulled out.
  https://westseattleblog.com/2016/07/no-cvs-after-all-drugstore-chains-plan-for-4722-fauntleroy-way-sw-apparently-dead/
  The site is now the ~300-unit Maris mixed-use project.
KM October 16, 2023 (12:52 pm)

I’ve had a good experience at that Rite Aid as well! I think most of that property should be developed for housing or commons. It’s an excessive amount of barely-used parking on either side–but perhaps that building and the adjacent lots are not the same owner?
- WSB October 16, 2023 (1:54 pm)
  
  Rite Aid is a tenant in both its West Seattle stores. The Bartell that closed in White Center is owned by a California electrical-contracting entrepreneur (who did not answer my inquiry about the site’s future).
- Chemist October 17, 2023 (1:41 am)
  
  The most recent HALA zoning adjustment contained a change that made the California Ave Rite Aid lot all the same zoning. That’s not insurmountable an obstacle, but I think only part of the north lot of the property was in the urban village and that might be even more confusing as far as regulations back then.

Keenan October 16, 2023 (9:24 am)

This was yet another example of corporate consolidation and hedge fund mismanagement running a beloved local business into the ground.

When I moved to Seattle in 2010, Bartells was excellent. I went there anytime I had a prescription and never had any issues. Then immediately after they were acquired by Rite Aid a few years ago the service deteriorated. Lines and wait times became longer, and they no longer called when a prescription was ready to be picked up. The attitude of the staff changed for the worse as well – I can imagine they were getting squeezed from all sides. I stopped going entirely once the hassle became too much and get all my prescription through the mail now.

This is what happens when vulture capitalists swoop in. It happened to Toys R US, it happened to K Mart, and now it happened to Bartells. Another institution and pillar of the community bled to death in the name of quarterly profits.

Eric1 October 16, 2023 (9:50 am)

Not surprised by the struggles of pharmacy oriented stores. Drugs are very easy to have sent by mail as they are generally non-perishable so online purchases can easily work. Getting prescriptions filled requires too much personal information to get a quote from multiple sources and I wouldn’t just give up information at a store with just prescriptions and limited amounts of other products. As bad as it sounds, I would switch to Amazon if I ever moved where a Costco was more than 10 miles away.

East Coast Cynic October 16, 2023 (11:03 am)

If Amazon had actual physical pharmacy locations, I’d strongly consider them. On more than one occasion, I needed a prescription filled the same day as a late afternoon in office medical procedure that necessitated the prescription. Fortunately, I could get to a Rite Aid in the early evening to get it filled, whereas mail order would not work and the on-site pharmacy at the medical center closed for day before the procedure:/.

Sorry, comment time is over.