The Rite Aid at 1331 Wilshire Boulevard, a mainstay for many mid-city Santa Monica residents following the 2022 closure of the Rite Aid on 18th St, is set to close at the end of May.
A printed notice taped to the store's front doors reads, "Thank you for trusting us with your health. On May 29th we will be moving your prescription to CVS on 1411 Lincoln Blvd." As of this week, the location remains open with normal hours, though staff confirmed they expect the closure to move forward as scheduled.
The store's supervisor told the Daily Press she had limited information about the details but believed most employees would be relocated to other Rite Aid outlets rather than laid off. A handful of staff currently work at the site.
The 14th and Wilshire location serves a large section of Santa Monica and has remained popular for its convenience and walkability. For many in the surrounding neighborhood, it has long been the closest option for filling prescriptions or picking up essentials without needing to drive or cross the freeway.
The closure comes amid broader financial struggles for the national chain with reports speculating that the chain is weighing a possible repeat bankruptcy after its recent financial restructuring failed to put the drugstore chain on a sustainable path.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has also been pursuing a sale of some or all of its businesses as a potential alternative to a Chapter 11 filing. If a sale doesn't materialize either inside or outside of bankruptcy, the pharmacy chain stands at risk of liquidating more of its footprint, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Pennsylvania-based company emerged from its first Chapter 11 bankruptcy and successfully completed its financial restructuring last year, operating as a private company.
Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2023, after reporting $750 million in losses and $24 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2023. It operated 2,000 pharmacies at the time of its bankruptcy.
During its bankruptcy process, the pharmacy used Chapter 11 to close hundreds of stores, sell its pharmacy benefit company Elixir and negotiate settlements with its lenders, drug distribution partner McKesson, and other creditors.
The company has faced multiple challenges in recent years. In March 2023, the U.S. Justice Department intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by former employees under the False Claims Act. Federal officials said in a statement that the drugstore chain filled "at least hundreds of thousands" of illegal prescriptions for drugs including opioids. Rite Aid called the government's claims "hyperbolic" in a subsequent motion to dismiss.
The company, like its rivals, also faces financial risk from lawsuits over opioid prescriptions. Rite Aid already has reached several settlements, including one announced last year with the state of West Virginia for up to $30 million.
Drugstores have been dealing with several issues that frustrate customers. They've handled prescription drug shortages, and they have struggled to fill their stores with enough pharmacists and technicians to run the pharmacies. Rivals CVS and Walgreens both have dealt with walkouts by pharmacy employees concerned about their growing workloads and lack of help.
Plus online competitors like the retail giant Amazon have hurt sales of consumer goods found outside the pharmacy areas of their stores.
Rite Aid's larger competitors like CVS and Walgreens, which each run several thousand more locations, have moved more aggressively into health care, opening clinics and adding other sources of revenue.
While speculation about this closure had been circulating for months, including on Reddit forums and in neighborhood conversations, the physical signage now confirms what many had suspected.
It's not known if another retail outlet will take the 17,800 sq ft site adjacent to Vons. Rite Aid has not issued a public statement about the Wilshire store's closure and has yet to respond to a request for comment.
This is not the first Rite Aid closure in Santa Monica. In April 2022, the company shuttered another nearby location at 1808 Wilshire Boulevard, near the intersection of Wilshire and 18th Street.
