Rite Aid stores on Peninsula safe from closure according to list

  • Peninsula Daily News News Sources
  • Saturday, October 21, 2023 9:09am
  • Business

None of the three Rite-Aid stores on the North Olympic Peninsula are on the company’s list of stores being closed.

Two stores in Port Angeles and one is Sequim are staying open, at least for now. Rite Aid said in its Tuesday bankruptcy court filing that it also may close additional stores.

Rite Aid plans to plans to close about 7 percent of its stores initially, as the drugstore chain makes its way through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, according to Associated Press.

The company submitted a list of 154 stores in a court filing. Most of the chain’s stores are on the East and West Coasts.

Several locations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California and Washington made the list. The company also plans to close some stores in Michigan and Ohio as well.

Eleven stores are slated for closure in Washington state, according to KOMO News. They are in Bellevue, Burien, Everett, Graham, Lacey, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Redmond, Renton and Seattle.

Rite Aid said in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it has more than 2,200 locations in 17 states.

That filing also noted that the company lost about $1.3 billion in the first half of its fiscal year. That’s more than double the $441 million it lost in the same period during the previous fiscal year.

The company said earlier this week that going through its voluntary Chapter 11 process will help significantly cut the company’s debt and resolve litigation “in an equitable manner.”

The Philadelphia company has struggled financially for years and also faces financial risk from lawsuits over opioid prescriptions like its bigger rivals, CVS and Walgreens.