Philly residents brace for life without Rite Aid as closures continue

For Elise Pegg a quick stop at her neighborhood Rite Aid has become a familiar comforting routine in her five years in Philly Me and my fiance consistently go home and we re like Oh yeah we love these people Pegg stated It s just a personable experience In Philadelphia the Scranton-founded pharmacy chain has become more than just a place to get medicine but a neighborhood grocer a provider of answers to physiological questions and a part of the local public It s less about amenity you walk down the street you just know the people that you ve been going to for years reported Pegg It s region But Pegg s trips will soon come to an end as all remaining Philadelphia Rite Aids are set to shutter in the coming months after an almost decade-long saga Philly s greater part numerous pharmacy chain which was once set to be bought by Walgreens in released more store closures last week marking the seventh round of restructuring following its Chapter bankruptcy filing in May That bankruptcy filing was its second It first filed in October after reporting million in losses in and closing stores in the Philly region earlier that year As of June the total number of Rite Aid closures nationwide is roughly and growing Earlier closures in May more than Rite Aid corporate office workers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard headquarters were laid off Three Philadelphia-area locations have since closed with more closures to follow The total number of Rite Aid closures in Philadelphia as of now stands at over The shelves of this Rite Aid mirror those of numerous stores around the country that have been marked for closure being left partially stocked or empty altogether Davis Cuffe Billy Penn Rite Aid s removal has set off waves of consequences Chain pharmacy competitors CVS and Walgreens have Philly locations between the two of them but countless Rite Aid customers have yet to plan for a transition of their medicinal necessities I don t know where to go -year-old Isaiah Saunders reported I know we have until the end of the summer but I m trying to work that out In addition to CVS and Walgreens offerings Philadelphia boasts a diverse range of non-chain pharmacies with an estimated independent pharmacies operating across the city Still certain loyal Rite Aid customers like Pegg worry that what she had with her local Rite Aid won t be easy to recapture CVS they re very corporate Pegg stated Every time I go there it s very impersonal reliably a huge line and just not as close to me Now with emptied shelves and hushed conversations of what s next among employees Pegg worries about the future of a location that had become a local artery of convenience and neighborhood I m kind of scared about what it will become she stated I don t know what they re gonna do with this building but I hope it s something that can help people Rite Aid locations in Philadelphia Walgreens and CVS reportedly have acquired a great number of Rite Aid locations across Philadelphia though a great number of remain in limbo The trend is playing out nationally too CVS in recent days publicized that it had acquired Rite Aid stores in Idaho Oregon and Washington states Rite Aid employees are also impacted by the closures In largest part cases cashiers pharmacists and managers will have to find employment elsewhere Following the May closures which resulted in over half of the Pennsylvania Rite Aid workforce being laid off the number of total laid-off Pennsylvania employees is expected to rise to by the end of the summer After building relationships with workers at his local Rite Aid where he s been a regular customer for over three years Saunders now worries about their futures as well as his own The people are really nice he reported I questioned a couple of them like What re you guys going to do Are you going to transfer And they seem to be unsure about what s going to happen Waves of consequence Beyond customers and full-time permanent employees there s another set of impacted people pharmacy students A great number of of them worked at Rite Aid as part of their -hour experiential training requirement Scott Greene a clinical assistant professor and assistant dean of experiential programs at Saint Joseph s University commented Rite Aid was a essential employer of pharmacy students who must now seek alternatives A former Rite Aid district manager and current professor in Saint Joseph s College of Pharmacy Greene believes the closures are a real bad situation for Philadelphia in particular where he says Rite Aids were ubiquitous Now with those Rite Aids disappearing and Philadelphia entering a transitional period as the pharmacies are replaced and residents make the switch Greene believes urgency rooms could see an influx of excess patients The urgency rooms are going to see a pickup Greene stated When you think about the typical thing in a public pharmacy you re filling prescriptions and you re taking care of patients but you re also answering a lot of questions Somebody s going to need to answer their questions Greene worries disadvantaged groups may forgo their strength demands altogether If you think about people who don t drive or they re disabled or financially they can t get somewhere I think a few people are going to abandon several of their demands because they re just not going to be able to get help Greene commented Greene compares the shift in pharmacy availability to the early s when countless pharmacies stopped offering function Back then people only adjusted their routines to visit during daytime hours but in response to this more drastic change Greene suggests a more proactive approach The first thing I would do is find the closest pharmacy to you I would figure out how I would get there and then I would go in and I would talk to the pharmacist and make sure that your medication prescription history has been transferred Greene commented The other thing that they should be doing is talking to their provider say Hey my pharmacy is closing I m going to switch to this pharmacy Left in the wake of these closures are the aforementioned chain competitors CVS and Walgreens CVS has locations in Philadelphia Walgreens has CVS suggests to have bids approved on the prescription files of Rite Aid pharmacies Already with the the majority locations in the U S and with major plans for expansion CVS feels confident that it will be able to accommodate an expanded client base and workforce as Rite Aid dissolves We re working closely with Rite Aid on plans to ensure that the transition will be seamless for patients and customers and access to pharmacy care is not interrupted CVS stated in a May message Once the sale is finalized we look forward to welcoming Rite Aid colleagues who are interested in applying to join the CVS company The post Philly residents brace for life without Rite Aid as closures continue appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY