Business & Tech
Rite Aid Declares Bankruptcy; Some Pittsburgh Stores Likely To Close
Hundreds of Rite Aid stores across the country are expected to shutter as the company reorganizes under bankruptcy protection.
PITTSBURGH, PA — The future of many Pittsburgh-area Rite Aid locations is in doubt after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday.
As part of its financial reorganization plan, the company said in a statement that it plans to accelerate its "footprint optimization plan." Rite Aid did not indicate precisely how many of its stores would close under the plan, but previous reports indicated the company would shutter as many of 500 of its 2,100 locations in 17 states.
Rite Aid said it will decide which stores will be closed based on the needs of its customers, communities and associates.
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"The company will continue assessing its footprint and close additional underperforming stores," Rite Aid said in a statement. "These efforts will further reduce the company's rent expense and are expected to strengthen its overall financial performance."
Rite Aid said it will make every effort to ensure customers of impacted stores have access to health services, whether at another Rite Aid or a nearby pharmacy, and will transfer prescriptions accordingly so that there is service disruption. no disruption of services. Rite Aid also plants to transfer employees at the closing stores to other locations when possible.
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According to the company's website, Rite Aid currently has 36 locations in the Pittsburgh metro area and many others throughout Western Pennsylvania. On Oct. 8, the company closed its store on William Penn Highway in Murrysville, Westmoreland County.
In June, the last time the company filed a financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it had $3.3 billion in long-term debt.
The bankruptcy also comes after the company was sued by the US government in April over its failure to detect what the Department of Justice called "red flags" around its filling of prescriptions for opioids and other painkillers.
The Philadelphia-based Rite Aid is the nation's third largest drug store chain behind CVS and Walgreens.
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