Rite Aid, once one of the largest chain pharmacies in the United States, has closed its remaining 89 stores this week, marking the company’s second bankruptcy filing in less than two years. In a statement on its website, Rite Aid said, “All Rite Aid stores are now closed. We appreciate the support of our loyal customers over the years.”
The company’s website has now removed all services, but former customers can still request their medication records or find other nearby pharmacies to get their prescriptions filled.
In May of this year, Rite Aid announced that it had sold the pharmacy services of most of its stores in the United States to competitors such as CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Albertsons, and Kroger, which collectively own more than 1,000 stores. This is good news for Rite Aid’s longtime customers, as it ensures they can still access their medications at nearby stores. In recent years, pharmacies have been closing permanently, forcing patients to travel further to get their medications, posing a greater risk to the elderly.
Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, citing competition from large chain stores and its massive debts. Expensive legal disputes stemming from allegations of illegally dispensing opioid prescriptions had pushed its debts to over $4 billion. Rite Aid emerged from bankruptcy in September 2024 after reducing $2 billion in debt, securing $2.5 billion in operating funding, and closing around 500 stores. As of May this year, Rite Aid was left with approximately 1,250 stores, nearly half of the number from 2023.
In November 2021, CVS announced plans to close 900 stores by 2024, following the closure of 244 stores between 2018 and 2020. Tim Wentworth, former CEO of Walgreens, told The Wall Street Journal last year that about 25% of the company’s stores were not profitable, leading to the announcement in October 2024 of the closure of 1,200 stores.
Rite Aid, a pharmacy that provided comprehensive services, was established in 1962 and has been operating for 63 years. It was renowned for its popular ice cream brand Thrifty, which was later sold off due to the pharmacy’s bankruptcy.
Its peak in the United States was around the late 1990s to early 2000s, with approximately 5,000 stores (about 4,800–5,100). Following the acquisition of Thrifty PayLess in 1998, Rite Aid’s store count reached its height of around 5,000.
From the mid-2000s onwards, due to financial difficulties and competitive pressures mainly from CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, Rite Aid began closing and selling stores. By 2015, it had attempted to sell some assets to Walgreens and further reduced its store count. By 2023, there were only about 2,000 stores left, and following the bankruptcy reorganization in 2025, the number fell to just over 1,200 stores.