Rite Aids across the nation will be closing their doors for good — the question is: when? According to a state WARN notice, the stores were scheduled to close Wednesday, but many are still open for business. 

What You Need To Know

  • Rite Aid stores across the country are closing permanently

  • Thousands of employees are being laid off as a result

  • Pharmacy services can still be accessed until stores close

One of the stores that’s still open is the Rite Aid at Sweetheart Corners in North Syracuse. An associate told Spectrum News 1 that the location will be closing on the June 19.    

“The shelves are empty, the coolers are empty, so it’s starting,” said North Syracuse resident Arthur Fennhahn, who has frequented the location since its opening.

Last month, Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy for the second time in as many years. This time, however, marks the end.

Signs of the impending closure are beginning to show: shelves are not being restocked, rewards points are no longer being issued and returns and exchanges are no longer being accepted.

Loyal customers are disappointed by the news.

“I was always happy coming here,” said Fennhahn. “There was always deals, so that’s what I liked about it, you could find a deal.”

Before Rite Aid was Rite Aid, it was called the Thrift-D Discount Center. Over its 63 years in business, the chain became a reliable drug store. 

In a message on its website, the company said customers can still access pharmacy services as long as stores remain open. Soon, that will change.

“They closed a pharmacy that was close to my house when Walgreens bought everything, so it was like, I don’t know how many years ago, but that was right down the block,” Fennhahn said. “So we went from that Rite Aid to this Rite Aid.”

With no Rite Aid to switch to this time, some shoppers, like Frank Wyatt, are worried about where they’ll go next, like Frank Wyatt.

“My sister had to switch her pharmacy like three or four different times in the last two, three years,” said Wyatt, who regularly picks up her medication. “So now we gotta switch again and find another place to pick up her location.”

It’s not just shoppers. Rite Aid employees will also have to figure out where they’ll go when the stores close for good. WARN notices show thousands of employees are being laid off due to the closures. 

“I hate to see anybody lose their job, but it’s the way it is. I don’t know,” Wyatt said.

“I was laid off twice in my life too,” Fennhahn said. “So I know what it feels like when the doors closed. What do you do?”

Ten employees are being laid off from the Sweetheart Corners Rite Aid and 393 are being laid off in Onondaga County, including the 233 laid off from Rite Aid’s Distribution Center in Liverpool in April.