History column: A look at the rise and fall of Rite Aid

I probably shouldn’t tell let on that I’m old enough to remember drugstores around Philadelphia like Sunray Drugs on East Allegheny Avenue. Those were back in the days in America when you could always count on your local pharmacy — before ordering online — and  always see a local, friendly pharmacist ready to answer any questions.

When chain drugstores began to take over the scene ,  they were equally depended upon. For me ,  that was my local Rite Aid. It was regularly stocked with personal items, prescriptions, vaccinations, even stationery items. Like many other Philadelphia-area Rite Aid’s ,  my local store is shuttering its doors this month for the last time.

In 2022, Rite Aid moved its headquarters to Philadelphia in the Navy Yard. Sixty years before in 1962,  Rite Aid began as Thrift D. Drugstore in Scranton, Pennsylvania. At its height in 2008, Rite Aid ranked 3rd in largest drugstore chains in the United States. Along the path to its retail ascension,  Rite Aid gobbled up Muir Drug and Remes Drug’s, Read’s Drug Store, and Gray Drugs, as well as Thrifty PayLess, among others. The pharmacy giant also struck big with the $3.4 billion acquisition of Eckard and Brooks Pharmacy’s. Thanks to a previous agreement when Eckard Drugs had provided much more spacious stores under JC Penney ,  Rite Aid honored JC Penney credit cards for its entire existence.

In the company’s hay day ,  it boasted more than 300 stores in the Philadelphia area. But in the end , Rite Aid could not overcome the opioid crisis-related litigation, competition from other national chains, as well as the incredible debt which it had amassed. In 2018 — after nearly three years in negotiations — the potential acquisition between Walgreen’s and Rite Aid would finally be reworked into the sale of almost 2,000 Rite Aid locations. The delay and finally the dissolution of the deal is mostly attributed to issues with getting FTC acceptance and the labor union objections which represented more than 5,000 Rite Aid employees.

In the summer of 2018 , Idaho-based grocery chain Albertson’s — who had planned to form a merger of equals  —  also failed to complete the deal due to a rejection by Rite Aid Shareholders. Finally, in 2023 ,  after moving its headquarters into South Philly just the year before in 2022 ,  Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy. Last month,  after a restructuring of the corporation failed , Rite Aid announced it would yet again file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. This time , Rite Aid is parting ways with its approximately 1,000 remaining locations.

The loss of Rite Aid’s around Philadelphia isn’t just the shuttering of another retail chain around our city. It’s a loss of dependability for our neighborhoods that we rely on.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt is a member of the Old York Road and Wissahickon Historical Societies and lives and works in Abington Township.