Major drugstore chains have struggled to remain profitable as several economic issues have put pressure on revenues.
Many of the financial problems are tied to economic challenges they have faced since the Covid pandemic, including rising costs of labor and products, driven by inflation and increased interest rates on debt obligations.
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Competition among the top pharmacy chains, including Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid, has grown significantly as big-box retail chains like Walmart, Target, and Costco expanded their pharmaceutical services, and internet drug providers like Amazon and Mark Cuban’s CostPlus Drug Company added their services as patient options.
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Both Walgreens and CVS embarked on store-closing programs over the last four years to eliminate locations that do not make economic sense.
Walgreens, which operated about 8,600 stores with 6,000 profitable locations in 2024, evaluated 2,000 stores for potential closure and identified 1,200 locations to shutter, with 500 set to close in fiscal year 2025.
Drugstore chain CVS in 2021 revealed it would close 900 of its nearly 9,900 stores to reduce costs and cut losses, closing 300 locations each year in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The company expanded the store closing campaign in 2025, revealing in its annual report in February that it would close 271 more stores this year.
Rite Aid files for bankruptcy twice
Rite Aid’s store closing plans were much more extreme as it filed for bankruptcy twice over the last two years, with plans to ultimately close all of its stores.
When Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the first time on Oct. 15, 2023, it closed about 800 of its 2,100 stores as part of a reorganization plan.
The drugstore chain filed for Chapter 11 protection a second time on May 5, 2025, as New Rite Aid LLC, and has begun a process of closing hundreds of its remaining stores.
Rite Aid has filed a notice in bankruptcy court to close 125 more stores.
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Rite Aid closes 125 more stores
Rite Aid filed its seventh notice of additional store closing locations with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey on June 13, seeking approval to close 125 additional stores and liquidate their assets, adding to previously designated locations for closing, for a total of 829 of its stores.
Related: Bankrupt retail chain closing dozens more store locations
Rite Aid already filed notices of store closing locations with the original notice and an additional closing notice on May 9, a second additional closing notice on May 15, a third additional closing notice on May 23, a fourth additional notice on May 30, and on June 6 filed fifth and sixth notices of additional store closing locations.
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The first seven groups of store closings listed 704 locations in 13 states, including Pennsylvania (214), California (181), New York (97), Washington (48), Oregon (32), New Jersey (31), New Hampshire (26), Virginia (24), Delaware (21), Maryland (13), Connecticut (6), Idaho (5), Massachusetts (3), Vermont (2), and Ohio (1).
The debtor’s seventh additional closing notice, includes 125 store closures in California (56), New York (24), Pennsylvania (19), New Hampshire (11), New Jersey (4), Washington (4), Delaware (2), Maryland (2), Connecticut (1), Ohio (1), and Virginia (1).
Rite Aid will file several additional store closing notices before its bankruptcy case closes, since it plans to close all of its stores, estimated at about 1,240.
Judge Michael B. Kaplan signed an interim order on May 9 approving initial and additional location closings. Objections to the interim location closing order and any of the proposed store closings must be filed with the court and received by the debtor and their counsel no later than June 23, according to court papers.
Related: Bankrupt drugstore chain closing over 150 stores; here’s where
