Rite Aid Corporation was an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia. Founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at its peak it operated more than 5,000 stores. By May 2025, it operated only 1,200 stores across 15 U.S. states and was the seventh-largest pharmacy in the U.S. when taking into account big box chains.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2023 due to a large debt load, thousands of lawsuits alleging involvement in the opioid crisis and a failed restructuring. It emerged in September 2024, but filed again less than a year later in May 2025, liquidating all remaining assets. Trademark ownership has since been transferred to the otherwise-unrelated company named Rite Aid LLC, legally based in Sheridan, Wyoming, which relaunched it as a web-based blood screening business.
Retail history 1962–1989
Alex Grass founded the chain as Thrift D Discount Center in Scranton, on September 12, 1962. The store expanded into five additional states in 1965 and went public as Rite Aid in 1968. It moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1970, trading under the symbol RAD.
Ten years after its first store opened, Rite Aid operated 267 locations in 10 states. Rite Aid acquired Baltimore, Maryland's Read's Drug Store in 1977. In June 1981, the Teamsters Local 182 union charged Rite Aid with being locked out. The strike lasted ten months when a National Labor Relations Board meeting was scheduled for July 19, 1982. 1983 marked a sales milestone of $1 billion. A 420-store acquisition along the East Coast expanded Rite Aid's holdings beyond 2,000 locations.
In October 1984, Rite Aid bought the Federal Plaza building in Downtown Youngstown. The company expanded into Michigan through several regional acquisitions in 1984. In 1985, Rite Aid opened stores in Lansing, Michigan, through the acquisition of State Vitamin. Rite Aid expanded further into Ohio in 1987 acquiring Cleveland-based Gray Drug from Sherwin Williams. In 1988, Rite Aid acquired Begley Drug Stores, expanding its presence in Kentucky. On April 10, 1989, Peoples Drug's 114-unit Lane Drug of Ohio from Toledo was purchased by Rite Aid.Chain Drug Review, March 27, 1989 "Peoples divests its Lane units" In November 1989, it was reported by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) that Rite Aid cut available hours for employees to work at their stores after the Lane Drug purchase.
1990–1999 In the 1990s, Rite Aid partnered with Carl Paladino's Ellicott Development Co. from Buffalo, New York to expand the company's presence in upstate New York. In 1992, Rite Aid bought Wellby Super Drug from Hannaford Brothers of Scarborough, Maine. In January 1994, Rite Aid CEO Martin Grass announced that 200 drugstores would close within six months. The company sold its auto parts, book, and dry cleaning outlets. Rite Aid decided to open seventy-five new drugstores by February 1995.
In May 1994, Rite Aid acquired Waterville, Maine–based LaVerdiere's as part of its expansion into Northern New England. The company acquired twenty-four Hook's Drug Stores of Indianapolis, Indiana, in late 1994, selling nine of the stores to Perry Drug Stores, a pharmacy chain from Pontiac, Michigan. In December 1994, Rite Aid announced that the company would acquire Perry, entering Metro Detroit for the first time and expanding its presence in Michigan even further. In March 1995, Alex Grass stepped down as chairman and CEO. His son, Martin Grass, took over. In July 1995, Rite Aid expanded into Portland, Maine, by purchasing 18 stores from Brooks Pharmacy from Warwick, Rhode Island. Rite Aid sold 30 stores to Brooks in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Brooks also acquired prescription files from another six stores in Massachusetts.
In November 1995, Rite Aid announced a merger with Revco worth $1.8 billion in cash and stock. The deal fell through after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) intended to file an antitrust lawsuit. Revco's top executives were against the sale to Rite Aid, although shareholders were for it. In December 1995, Rite Aid said that the Revco deal would have closed about 300 stores and eliminated 1,000 jobs. CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, eventually bought Revco in 1997.
In February 1996, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required three stores to be divested after the LaVerdiere's purchase in 1994. In April 1996, Rite Aid announced that it was buying Honeyland Pharmacy in Schenectady, New York. On October 14, 1996, the company acquired Thrifty PayLess, a 1,000-store West Coast chain from Los Angeles. The acquisition of Thrifty PayLess included the Bi-Mart membership discount stores headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. A day later, Rite Aid announced it would sell Bi-Mart and it was sold in 1997. In March 1997, Rite Aid announced plans to build a distribution center in Harford County, Maryland, creating 850 jobs. In July 1997, Rite Aid acquired Harco, Inc. and K&B, Inc. which brought the company into the Gulf Coast area.
In mid-January 1998, the company announced that about 200 employees had lost their jobs at its New Orleans distribution center. The company expanded its customer service center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and created 100 jobs. In late May 1998, HIV/AIDS activists picketed the company, alleging that it inadequately stocked prescriptions to treat HIV.
In 1999, Rite Aid closed 600 poorly performing stores. In September 1999, Rite Aid planned to phase out its distribution center in Farr West, Utah, shifting operations to Los Angeles. On October 19, 1999, Martin Grass, chairman and CEO, stepped down with losses mounting from debt which occurred from rapid expansion. The board of directors named Timothy J. Noonan, Rite Aid's president and COO, as CEO. The board created a new executive committee consisting of four outside directors. On November 16, 1999, Leonard Green took over as chairman of Rite Aid.
On November 23, 1999, Rite Aid announced that new projects were on hold. In early December 1999, Bob Miller took over as chairman and CEO, helping to stabilize and save the company from bankruptcy. Miller had worked 30 years for Albertson's and then Kroger. Rite Aid hired Deloitte & Touche as its auditing firm after KPMG LLP resigned in November. Mary Sammons of Fred Meyer was tapped by Leonard Green of Leonard Green & Partners to become president and chief operating officer. By this time, the company's share price had fallen from a high of $51.125 in January 1999 to a low of $4.40 later in the year, and its bond credit rating had been cut from investment grade to medium-grade junk. David Jessick, a former executive at Thrifty Payless and Fred Meyer, became the chief administrative officer (CAO). John T. Standley, from Fred Meyer, became the chief financial officer (CFO).
2000–2009 In April 2000, Rite Aid announced it had secured $1 billion in credit from Citibank in addition with J.P. Morgan, converting $200 million in bank debt to Rite Aid stock. Rite Aid also announced that it would take PCS Health Systems, Inc., a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), off the market. In mid July 2000, Rite Aid sold PCS Health Systems to Advance Paradigm for $1 billion. In December 2001, Rite Aid sold off its stores in the Columbus, Ohio, market to CVS. In July 2004, Rite Aid expanded for the first time since nearly collapsing in 1999. The company also sold 1,260 Eckerd Pharmacy stores to CVS. Sammons became CEO in 2003.
In August 2006, The Wall Street Journal announced that Rite Aid would acquire the U.S. subsidiary of Quebec-based Jean Coutu Group, including 1,850 Eckerd and Brooks Pharmacy stores, for $3.4 billion in cash and issuing stock, giving Jean Coutu a 32% equity stake in Rite Aid. In October 2006, Change to Win Federation (CtW), a labor union, asked Miller to delay a shareholder vote on the merger. The request was denied. The company's shareholders overwhelmingly approved the merger on January 18, 2007. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal on June 2, 2007. The deal closed on June 4 of that year. After an antitrust review, Rite Aid was required to divest 23 stores. Rite Aid later announced that the two chains' stores would be rebranded, retiring the 109-year-old Eckerd banner; all stores were converted to Rite Aid by Late 2007. The merger made Rite Aid the dominant drug store retailer in the Eastern United States and the third largest drug retailer nationwide. At its peak in 2008, Rite Aid had a total of 5,059 stores employing 112,800 people. In March 2008, the company closed some redundant stores, mostly pre-existing Rite Aids from before the Eckerd deal.
On January 4, 2008, Rite Aid announced the closure of all 28 of its stores in the Las Vegas Valley and the sale of patient prescription files from the market to Walgreens. The company said that Las Vegas was a non-core market which had not been contributing to overall results. It had not opened a new store there since 1999. One Nevada store stayed open in Gardnerville, near the California border, where Rite Aid at the time had more than 600 stores. It exited Nevada entirely when the Gardnerville store closed in December 2023.
On February 5, 2009, Rite Aid announced that it would terminate operations of seven Rite Aid stores in San Francisco, along with five stores in eastern Idaho, through a sale to Walgreens.
Founder Alex Grass died of cancer on August 27, 2009.
2010–2019 In June 2010, John Standley was promoted from chief operating officer to chief executive officer, with former CEO Mary Sammons retaining her position as chairperson; Ken Martindale, previously co-president of Pathmark, was named chief operating officer. In April 2013, Jean Coutu Group sold 72.5 million of its shares in Rite Aid to the company. In July 2013, Coutu Group sold its remaining shares of Rite Aid.
In February 2015, Rite Aid purchased EnvisionRx, a pharmacy benefit manager, which owns subsidiary PBMs MedTrak, Connect Health Solutions, and Smith Premier Services. On October 27, 2015, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that it expected to acquire Rite Aid for $9.4 billion, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. The combined company would have been the largest pharmacy chain in the United States, reportedly controlling 46% of the market. Walgreens planned to keep the Rite Aid name on existing stores if the deal went through, although the company's long-term plans for the Rite Aid name were unknown.
Most analysts expected that the merger would close by the end of 2016 and it was initially delayed by regulatory review. It was announced on December 21, 2016, that addressing antitrust concerns, Rite Aid would sell 865 stores to Fred's of Memphis, Tennessee, for $950 million, though the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was dissatisfied with the proposal and requested the sale of 650 additional stores. In January 2017, Rite Aid and Walgreens further delayed the merger's closing to July and reduced the sale price to approximately $6.8 billion. 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a labor union representing 6,000 Rite Aid employees, announced its opposition to the merger on January 31.
On June 29, 2017, Walgreens announced the cancellation of the merger. Walgreens offered to purchase 2,186 Rite Aid stores, less than half of the chain, for $5.18 billion (plus a $325 million cancellation penalty), a deal which effectively would have Rite Aid exiting the southeastern United States. Further negotiations led to a fourth revised deal, with Walgreens buying 1,932 Rite Aid locations for $4.38 billion, which was approved by the FTC on September 19. The revised sale was completed on March 27, 2018, leaving Rite Aid with roughly 2,600 stores. Three distribution centers and related inventory were transferred beginning on September 1, 2018, and the majority of stores were rebranded as Walgreens. Most of the 600 stores which were closed were Rite Aid stores within a mile of an existing Walgreens.