Bye, Bye Rite Aid

By on January 27, 2022 8:34 pm in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Health, Shopping

Update: If you have prescriptions to pick up, starting Friday, February 11 you can pick them up at Duane Reade, at the corner of Court and Montague, unless you’ve made other arrangements. It’s already been noted on this week’s OTW, but today your correspondent’s wife paid a visit to Rite Aid at 101 Clinton Street, corner of Joralemon, and discovered the denuded shelves shown in her photo here. A conversation with an employee confirmed that the store’s last day of operation will be February 10. The employees, who are unionized, will be offered jobs at other Rite Aid locations.

The nearest other Rite Aid location is at 182 Smith Street, corner of Warren, a bit of a schlep. Those of you who, like my wife and me, have relied on Rite Aid to fill prescriptions, may want to switch to another nearby pharmacy.

Photo: Martha Foley for BHB

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  • Jorale-man

    Later years later…
    http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/69017

    It will probably be a boon for the little bodega/candy store on Joralemon now.

  • CassieVonMontague

    So the Rite Aid at Court and Atlantic is now Walgreens? And the Duane Reade on Court St and Montague is sort of a Walgreens? And remember when there was another on Joralemon and Court St at the same time? And this Rite Aid that’s closing moved from a location on Montague that’s now CVS? This is all so confusing.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Rite Aid & Duane Reade are owed by Walgreens.
    CVS is an independent company.

  • meschwar

    Perfect spot for another head shop!

  • Andrew Porter

    Winder if this is part of the let’s-shoplift-and-not-be-caught phenomenon which is sweeping the retail trade?

  • aeshtron

    I can’t resist being pedantic on the internet ; )

    RAD, WBA and CVS are all separate publicly traded corporations. Duane Reade was publicly traded between 1988 to 2004. In 2010 WBA bought Duane Reade. WBA attempted to buy RAD between 2015 and 2017 but did not execute the deal. WBA did buy about 2,000 RAD stores in 2018. Currently there are about 2,500 Rite Aid stores. RAD has about $3 billion in debt.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Head Supermarket!

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Isn’t “not-be-caught” always a goal in shoplifting?

  • Andrew Porter

    End result: store closes. So who wins? No one.

  • PeterMMM

    Still a cvs on Henry Street

  • Pierrepont

    The place was always sub-par, and made the Duane Reade a block away look like Bergdorf’s for crying out loud.

  • Effective Presenter

    Is it “You may shop-lift and NOT be arrested allowed to keep the stuff” like in California?

    Is shoplifting allowed in New York City?

  • Effective Presenter

    LOL!

  • Effective Presenter

    Walgreens has GREAT 99 cent bags of candy we bought $20 worth of candy yesterday that should hold us for a while.

  • Andrew Porter

    Walgreen’s also bought the Boots Chemists stores in the UK, so the company is now Walgreens-Boots-Alliance. More than you ever wanted to know about them, here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walgreens_Boots_Alliance

  • Andrew Porter

    Shoplifting is allowed, until you get caught. Then, not.

    You can also jump off a tall building, and you’ll be completely okay, until you hit the ground. Then, splat!!!

  • Effective Presenter

    Right SPLAT!!! and a BIG mess especially if landing on the head.

  • JT

    For what it’s worth, I stopped into the Rite Aid at 182 Smith Street and thought to myself “is this store closing”? The shelves were very empty….

  • Mike Suko

    My wife noticed the same thing several weeks back – pre-“news” – in connection with the one now en route to being shuttered.

    It’s VERY easy to say that there was a great deal more “supply” than demand when it came to plus-sized drugstores. It’s obviously a VERY high-margin business – CVS bought Aetna, for Pete’s sake. I find it interesting that there’s a new SMALL drugstore opening soon in a prime space on Atlantic.

    Maybe, it’s like credit cards – kind of ridiculous that every sale gets docked 2.5-3% … until you realize how much fraud “has to be covered” by the honest people. Maybe, what one heard about “armed teams” in San Francisco going into big stores to “plunder” or “loot” really IS a thing in Brooklyn Heights, too.

    Maybe, it’s individual “bad actors” for now, but I *am* starting to wonder if “criminality” – not that Mayor Adams will ever do anything about it beyond talk – really is THE growth industry in NYC.

  • kizz

    huh?

  • Mike Suko

    Nice and linear/clear – this exploration of the problem:

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/06/shoplifting-store-owners-small-businesses-gene-marks

    My takeaway – Amazon’s next “doubling” won’t be a heavy lift – at all! … But will the few million people now working in retail fare any better than the millions who used to “manufacture” or live in households where the main wage-earner did?!