Rite Aid closing two more Pittsburgh store locations
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Rite Aid is closing dozens more stores, including two in the City of Pittsburgh.
The company's store locations along Smithfield Street in Downtown Pittsburgh and along Second Avenue in the city's Hazelwood neighborhood are among the dozens that will be closing.
Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
Several local Rite Aid stores, including the one in Moon Township, Crafton, and the one at the corner of Route 51 and Route 88 have already closed
With more than 2,100 retail stores across 17 states and thousands of employees, Rite Aid's filing for Chapter 11 is a last-ditch attempt to reorganize to keep many of its stores open.
Rite Aid, the third biggest stand-alone pharmacy, blames falling sales and legal troubles stemming from opioid prescriptions for its demise. But closing stores like Rite Aid can hurt access to medicines and health care, creating what's called pharmacy deserts or neighborhoods without easy access to a drugstore.
Chapter 11 is a way for companies to buy time, reorganize, secure financing, pay off creditors at a discount, rewrite labor agreements and often downsize to remain open.
With customers able to purchase drugs and medications online, by mail, and at doctors' offices and even at grocery stores — everyone is selling these days.
Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers that represents many Rite Aid employees says that he hopes that the company can survive in some format through Chapter 11 reorganization, but worries that Rite Aid could go belly up and liquidate.
Rite Aid has promised to transfer prescriptions to nearby pharmacies that can best help its customers.
