Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The large chain pharmacy Rite Aid has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is closing a number of underperforming stores following a decline in sales, growing online competition and hundreds of opioid-related lawsuits.
With five and counting Rite Aid stores closing their doors this year so far in the Western New York area, there is concern that this could be another falling domino that could cause the big chain pharmacies to close more locations in our area.
"We have three giants in Western New York, Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS. CVS has had problems too and [so has] Walgreens," says John Bartimole, a health consultant and former president of the WNY Healthcare Association. "This is all part of the growing competition for your prescription drug dollars, and Amazon is in this now. When Amazon gets into anything, you know they could outbid most people, and they have more of a reach than your box stores. So, I think this is serious."
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Bartimole says its important for Rite Aid to keep their doors open, especially in rural areas.
"I live in Olean and we have a Rite Aid here, we need that Rite Aid. We've already lost two very key independent pharmacies. So these chain pharmacies are very important to all areas, especially rural areas."
Why are our local towns losing pharmacies?
"Independent pharmacies have a lot of trouble keeping up with with the chains because the chains have more buying power. So if these independents go, and then the retail giants go, who's going to be left to to provide prescription drugs to to the citizens?"
The big chain and local pharmacies are trying to compete with companies like Amazon, who now delivers people's prescriptions in the mail, but that could take days and maybe weeks to receive a prescription. So what if you need your prescriptions now?
"Immediacy is the problem. You know, it's like, you could go to your neighborhood supermarket and get the ground beef for tonight's hamburgers... or do you want to wait for something to be brought in from from an online store? When you need something, you need it. That's why these pharmacies are crucial."
Bartimole predicts we will see more chain drug stores close in our area. He takes issue with the lawsuits as well.
"The whole opioid lawsuit business confounds me because the pharmacies were simply filling prescriptions that were sent to them from from medical doctors. How pharmacies became the scapegoat for this is beyond me, and that's what's killing some of these pharmacies. They're (Rite Aid) getting protection and they will be able to come out of this eventually. And the other reality is that these are jobs in our areas, probably higher paying jobs than other places, and I would hate to lose those jobs in economies that are already fragile."