Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/AP) - All 73 Western New York Rite Aid locations, including 13 in Buffalo, will soon close as the company enters chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company said Rite Aid stores will continue to fill prescriptions, and customers will still be able to visit its locations or shop online while it goes through its voluntary Chapter 11 process. But that process also will allow it to speed up its plan to close underperforming stores.
The Philadelphia company, which is marking its 60th year in business, has posted annual losses for several years and has been cutting costs and closing stores as it dealt with long-standing financial challenges. It has said it expects a net loss of as much as $680 million in the current fiscal year, which will end next spring.
The company, like its rivals, also faces financial risk from lawsuits over opioid prescriptions. Rite Aid already has reached several settlements, including one announced last year with the state of West Virginia for up to $30 million.
Rite Aid sent the following letter to employees:
Drugstores also have been dealing with several issues that frustrate customers. They’ve handled prescription drug shortages, and they have struggled to fill their stores with enough pharmacists and technicians to run the pharmacies. Rivals CVS and Walgreens both have dealt with walkouts by pharmacy employees concerned about their growing workloads and lack of help.
Walgreens attempted to buy Rite Aid for about $9.4 billion in a deal announced in 2015. But the larger drugstore chain scaled back its ambition a couple years later and bought only a chunk of Rite Aid, around 1,900 stores, to get the deal past antitrust regulators.
In 2018, Rite Aid shares plunged after the company called off a separate merger with the grocer Albertsons, which is currently trying to merge with another grocer, Kroger.