Rite Aid to Sell 12 Locations to Walgreens
Rite Aid Corporation has signed an agreement to sell seven Rite Aid locations in downtown San Francisco and five Rite Aid locations in eastern Idaho to Walgreens, the company announced.
The transition to Walgreens is expected to be completed by the end of March, Rite Aid said. It did not reveal terms of the deal.
“Our strategy is to focus our operations where we can best leverage the Rite Aid brand and operate most efficiently,” said Chris Hall, Rite Aid senior vice-president of strategic business development.
“With only seven stores in all of the city of San Francisco we didn’t have the critical mass to be successful there, and our stores in eastern Idaho are just too widespread and too distant from other Rite Aid locations to operate efficiently. This is a good transaction for Rite Aid.”
The five eastern Idaho stores included in the transaction are located in Pocatello, Blackfoot, Twin Falls, Burley and Idaho Falls. Rite Aid continues to operate 14 stores in western Idaho, which borders Washington and Oregon, where Rite Aid operates more than 200 stores and a distribution center.
Rite Aid continues to operate 605 stores throughout California, including 42 stores in the Bay Area. Of the 31 states where Rite Aid operates, California has the second-largest number of Rite Aid stores (after New York).
Walgreen already has 59 stores in San Francisco and 28 in Idaho—and said it would combine some of the newly purchased locations with its own stores, but did not specify how many or which stores would close, writes Reuters.
Rival CVS Caremark became the leading drugstore chain in California when it bought Longs Drug Stores and now has 925 stores there, including 455 Longs locations.
Rite Aid is still working to absorb the Brooks and Eckerd chains it bought in 2007.
Drugstore chains have come under pressure from Wal-Mart and other discounters that have offered low-cost, flat-rate monthly generic subscriptions.
Locations of the Rite Aid stores affected by the transaction:
San Francisco
- 1300 Bush Street
- 5280 Geary Blvd.
- 1496 Market Street
- 776 Market Street
- 200 W. Portal Ave.
- 1830 Ocean Avenue
- 3931 Alemany Blvd.
Eastern Idaho
- 1000 Pocatello Creek Road, Pocatello
- 960 W. Bridge St., Blackfoot
- 1139 Addison Ave. East, Twin Falls
- 904 E. Main St., Burley
- 1745 W. Broadway St., Idaho Falls
Rite Aid Corporation operates more than 4,900 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, with fiscal 2008 annual sales of more than $24.3 billion.