There are a lot of unhappy customers who thought Rite Aid would be around to meet their prescription needs forever. That is not the case. The troubled chain of drugstores and pharmacies within is about to throw in the towel and sell off its pharmacy holdings.
What does this mean for the average consumer/patient? In most cases, it means that they’ll have to go elsewhere as stores close left and right. The good news is that Rite Aid will ensure that all of its prescriptions get transferred to another pharmacy, except in the case of a rebranding.
It is possible for, say, CVS to purchase Rite Aid locations, keeping prescriptions at that individual store. This is nothing new to me. Way back when, I was an assistant manager at Eckerd. That company got sold. Some stores went to Rite Aids and some went to CVS.
You can tell the history of drug stores simply by looking at its architecture. You can tell that Rite Aid took over a former Eckerd, for example. Of course, you can also recognize an original Rite Aid. It looks like, sooner or later, Rite Aids may become parts of other chains. Maybe CVS buys some stores up. Maybe Walgreens does.
Then again, some stores get sold to completely different retail outlets. For example, there is a building on Central Avenue here in Albany that was originally an Eckerd location. Then it became a Rite Aid. That was followed by a Goodwill location and that, in turn, was turned into an Ace Hardware store and, for now, that’s the way it stands.
Having been through retail musical chairs before, I can tell you that from a customer’s point of view, not much will change if CVS buys up a current Rite Aid. The prescriptions will stay within the store and there will likely be few layoffs as the incoming company would want to retain employees who know what they’re doing.
Now, if your Rite Aid closes up shop, those employees are pretty much out of luck as there will be no other Rite Aid location in which to move them. But what about your prescriptions? They will be transferred to other pharmacies who outbid each other for those valuable scripts. For the most part, it should be a smooth transition from the patients’ points of view.
What if, for example, CVS buys your local Rite Aid store but you don’t like CVS. That’s no problem. You can go to a pharmacy of your choosing. What’s supposed to happen is that CVS will automatically transfer your prescription. But in the worst case scenario, you’ll have to contact your medical care providers and have them electronically send refills to whichever pharmacy you choose.
Hopefully, the impact will be minimal. There will be no impact if another company buys Rite Aid and all of its remaining locations, of which there are many. Maybe they will keep the Rite Aid brand. At this point, just about anything can happen.
As far as I am concerned, there will be no impact whatsoever on myself or my family. We do not use Rite Aid at all. We never have. When Eckerd got bought up, my job was safe. Not everyone can say that. But even when I worked there, I chose to go elsewhere for my prescription needs as I knew where, so to speak, the bodies were buried.
When we transitioned to Rite Aid, I felt no pain. A lot of customers had animosity towards Rite Aid, however, and we lost their business left and right. Our particular location was hit so hard with the immediate loss of business that Rite Aid shut us and other stores in the area down, and that time, it affected me.
I realize a lot of people enjoy doing business with Rite Aid, but now, it doesn’t matter. With a second round of bankruptcy, Rite Aid is down for the count and it won’t be getting up. Maybe now people will simply move to a better pharmacy.
As for the closure, it couldn’t happen to a more deserving company.