Rite Aid Closing over 800 Stores Nationally, 60 Locations in New York

Due to ongoing financial struggles and bankruptcy woes, a massive pharmacy chain is now closing 800 stores nationwide.

2024 has been a horrible year for Rite Aid, a popular pharmacy for many here in Central New York. The chain has stores in Washington Mills, New Hartford, Utica, Whitesboro, and Rome, but persistent closures has residents worried their location could be next.

As of print time, Rite Aid has 1,554 locations left across the United States and 181 of them are based right here in the Empire State. That info is according to ScrapeHero.

New York's number used to be higher, as Rite Aid closed 12 stores in March and 13 in April, alone - but the list of state closures is even larger than that.

In 2023, Rite Aid issued 10 list of closures on the heels of it filing for bankruptcy that October.

Read More: Here's the 29 Rite Aid Locations Leaving New York State

Unfortunately, that aggressive round of shutterings weren't enough to stop the sinking ship. So far this year, Rite Aid announced 26 separate times that it's closing more locations.

MassLive has been keeping count of the number of stores biting the dust and says, as of the latest announcement this week, Rite Aid is closing 33 more locations, bringing its total to 827 nationwide.

This includes all 233 of their Michigan stores, nearly all locations in Ohio, and half of its stores in Connecticut.

New York, which has the third highest number of Rite Aid locations in the country, also continues to suffer heavy losses with 60 locations confirmed to be going out of business.

Nationally, New York suffered the fifth-highest number of Rite Aid closures. The lion's share is going to the New York City metro area.  However, Buffalo and Clinton both lost 2 stores while Ithaca, Dewitt, and Rochester all lost 1 each.

Those stores slated for closure or that have already closed are as follows:

Buffalo
• 2474 Bailey Ave
• 2047 Sheridan Drive

Clinton
• 35250 South Gratiot Ave.
• 36485 Garfield Road

Ithaca
• 1010 East Center Street

Dewitt
• 13157 1/2 Schavey Road

Rochester
• 1567 Penfield Road

Rite Aid reportedly reached a bankruptcy settlement in March after amassing $3.3 billion in long-term debt. Rite Aid's assets were said to only have a total value of $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Rite Aid has also been struggling with declining revenue, which also impacted its ability to pay off its lenders.

Another major cause of its financial struggles are the over 1,000 lawsuits, from personal to federal, over accusations that the chain helped facilitate the opioid crisis. Filing for bankruptcy helped put a hold to these suits and even opened the door to allow Rite Aid to deal with them in a single forum.

Rite Aid's future remains unknown at this time, which means more closures could be coming down the pipeline as the pharmacy chain gets its affairs in order.

Do you think Rite Aid will eventually pull out of Central New York? Let us know by giving us a shout via the station app below.

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In the meantime, check out all the other major chains and things we used to love that are not around anymore.