More Rite Aid stores are shuttering in New York City after the drug store chain declared bankruptcy last year.
According to Patch, new legal documents revealed that a store location in the Bronx, at 592 East 183rd St. in Belmont, and another in Queens, 218-35 Hempstead Ave., Queens Village, are the latest in a series of impending store closures. Both locations are expected to close down sometime this year.
It was also reported that a Brooklyn storefront, located at 960 Halsey St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, is also closing its doors by May 19.
This past October, it was announced that Rite Aid had declared bankruptcy, and with that, a handful of stores throughout Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn would close up for good. Aside from New York City, 13 more stores were expected to close across New York State.
According to the Associated Press, Rite Aid’s filing noted that the company lost about $1.3 billion in the first half of its fiscal year in 2023.
While company leaders blame the fate of the ailing retail chain on thefts within the stores and the rising cost of goods, Rite Aid is involved in several lawsuits targeting the company for its role in allegedly perpetuating the opioid epidemic.
By the end of last year, Rite Aid faced more than 1,000 lawsuits related to painkillers, as well as a damning lawsuit from the Northern District of Ohio in March 2023 when federal prosecutors sued the company for allegedly filling many opioid prescriptions that Rite Aid should not have.
Additional reporting by Aidan Graham and Dean Moses.
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