US pharmacy chain Rite Aid closes final stores
The American pharmacy channel Rite Aid announced that it would close all the remaining stores.
The company’s website was replaced on Saturday by a message announcing the closure: “All the Rite help stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support.” The site included a link to allow customers to request their pharmacy files.
Founded in 1962, society was once one of the largest pharmacies channels in the country. At its peak, Rite Aid had 5,000 stores.
But in recent years, the channel has been faced with financial difficulties and an investigation by the Ministry of Justice. Friday, data showed that less than 100 stores remained.
Rite AID had filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 and May 2025.
The company was also faced with legal problems on its role in the epidemic of opioids. In 2022 Rite Aid paid up to 30 million dollars to settle the alleged proceedings that she contributed to the flow of opioid in the United States, according to CBS, the American partner of the BBC.
The following year, in the 2023 bankruptcy file, the company said that restructuring would help it “resolve disputes”.
Rite AID also faced a complaint from the Ministry of Justice in which officials alleged that the company’s stores were filming illegal prescriptions for oxycodone and fentanyl. The company agreed to settle in July 2024.
Other American pharmacy channels have also closed retail stores across the country, although different reasons have been cited.
Since 2021, CVS has closed more than 1,000 stores as part of a longer -term strategic decision.
In addition, Walgreens, recently bought by the Sycamore Partners’ capital company, ended 500 stores in the past year.
Experts have raised concerns about the growth of “pharmacy deserts” in the United States, where millions of people live without a pharmacy nearby and must travel to fill the prescriptions.
