Centre County’s last remaining Rite Aid is set to close. Here’s what we know

Rite Aid will soon close its last remaining location in Centre County, as a result of Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, according to court documents dated from last week.

The final remaining location — at 1536 N. Atherton St. in Ferguson Township — will close May 23, a company spokesperson told the CDT in an email. The pharmacy will close May 2.

An employee who answered the phone Wednesday said staff were informed of the closure “a couple days ago.” And, because the nearest Rite Aid locations will now be outside Centre County in Tyrone and Huntingdon, the employee assumed most working locally were “out of luck” when it came to working elsewhere for the company.

The closure comes six months after Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy protection after losing about $3 billion over the last six years. The company’s stock has lost nearly 95% of its value since August.

In mid-November, Centre County boasted four Rite Aid locations. But the South Atherton store closed Nov. 29, followed by the Westerly Parkway location Dec. 5 and then the Bellefonte site Dec. 12. A company spokesperson told the CDT, at the time, it could not rule out closing the county’s last remaining store, on North Atherton Street.

“In connection with the court-supervised process, we notified the Court of certain underperforming stores we are closing to further reduce rent expense and strengthen overall financial performance,” the company said in a written statement from November 2023. “At this time, we have not made or confirmed any decisions on additional specific store closures as part of our financial restructuring process.”

Last week, Rite Aid announced plans to close another 53 stores — including 12 in Pennsylvania, with the last Centre County location among them. Since October, Rite Aid has announced the closure of more than 250 stores.

The national drugstore chain, which was founded in Scranton in 1962, still has more than 1,500 stores concentrated on the East and West coasts — which puts it firmly behind Walgreens (8,200-plus stores) and CVS (9,000-plus).

According to Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill, Rite Aid operated on a much thinner profit margin compared to its competitors, who have moved more aggressively into health care, opening clinics and adding other sources of revenue. Among other reasons for the bankruptcy, The Associated Press mentioned online competitors like Amazon, waning COVID-19 vaccine/testing business, staffing issues, financial risk from lawsuits over opioid prescriptions, etc.

Going through Chapter 11 will help “significantly reduce the company’s debt” while helping to “resolve litigation claims in an equitable manner,” the company said in October.

Once the State College area Rite Aid closes, only two locations within 25 miles of State College will remain open. The Tyrone location (1365 Logan Ave.) in Blair County is listed at 21 miles away, and the Huntingdon store (9635 William Penn Highway) in Huntingdon County is 23 miles away.