The Rite Aid in Snohomish at Second Street and Pine Avenue.
Photo by Michael Whitney.
Drugstore chain CVS will take over “many” Rite Aid and Bartell stores in the Pacific Northwest after a deal was worked out, the Rite Aid company announced May 15. Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 5.
Rite Aid said in its press release that during the transition, the stores changing hands will remain open.
Rite Aid also is closing some stores outright.
The store in Granite Falls will close on a date sometime after June 6, according to a May 9 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy court. It is among eight Washington stores formally identified to be prepared for closure. That closure would appear to leave the independent Granite Falls Pharm A Save as town’s remaining drugstore.
CVS has stores in Lake Stevens, Marysville, Everett and Lynnwood, but is not currently in east Snohomish County. CVS overall has 38 stores in Washington state. Rite Aid, for comparison, is shedding a large number, including the homegrown Bartell Drugs chain of stores it bought in 2020.
When it began the bankruptcy process, Rite Aid was selling off the unexpired leases of nearly all of its 1,240 stores.
Outside of the Northwest, Rite Aid is selling its pharmacy assets to Walgreens, CVS, Albertsons, Kroger and other companies.
Government-led opioid prescription lawsuits hit all major pharmacy chains. Rite Aid, though, lagged behind Walgreens and CVS in size and its ability to pay, and also carried debts.
