Drugstore chains in the retail sector began a major overhaul of their store footprints as the Covid-19 pandemic subsided, with several retailers closing 100s of stores.
As retail chains began to transition away from strict health safety protocols implemented to prevent the spread of the deadly Covid disease, some of the biggest national drugstore retailers revealed huge cuts to their store counts.
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Retailers cited economic challenges they have faced since the Covid pandemic, including rising costs of labor and products, driven by inflation and increased interest rates on debt obligations, as well as retail theft.
Related: Bankrupt drugstore chain closes over 100 more stores
Fierce competition between drugstore chains and big-box retail chains like Walmart, Target, and Costco, as well as internet drug providers like Amazon and Mark Cuban’s CostPlus Drug Company, also prompted retailers eliminate locations that don’t make economic sense.
Major national drugstore chain CVS in 2021 revealed it would close 900 of its nearly 9,900 stores to reduce costs and cut losses, closing 300 locations each year in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
CVS closes 271 stores in 2025
The company expanded the store closing campaign in 2025, revealing in its annual report in February that it would close 271 more stores this year.
CVS took community needs into consideration, such as maintaining access to pharmacy services, local market dynamics, population shifts, a community’s store density, and ensuring there are other geographic access points to meet the needs of the community.
Walgreens, which operates about 8,600 stores with 6,000 profitable locations, evaluated 2,000 stores for potential closure and identified 1,200 locations to shutter, with 500 set to close in fiscal year 2025.
Certain drugstore chains faced more severe consequences
Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the first time on Oct. 15, 2023, and closed about 800 of its 2,100 stores as part of a reorganization plan.
The drugstore chain filed for Chapter 11 protection a second time on May 5, 2025, as New Rite Aid LLC, and has begun closing hundreds of its remaining stores.
Rite Aid will close another 118 stores for a total of 947 closures.
Image source: Tom Werner/Getty Images
Rite Aid will close 118 more stores
Rite Aid filed its eighth notice of additional store closing locations with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey on June 20, seeking approval to close 118 additional stores and liquidate their assets, adding to previously designated locations for closing, for a total of 947 of its stores.
Related: Bankrupt retail chain closing over 200 more stores
The debtor’s eighth additional closing notice consists of 118 store closures in 11 states, including California (40), Pennsylvania (30), New York (20), Washington (7), Connecticut (4), Maryland (4), New Hampshire (4), New Jersey (4), Delaware (3), Idaho (1), and Massachusetts (1).
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Rite Aid already filed seven notices of store closing locations with the original notice and an additional closing notice on May 9, a second additional closing notice on May 15, a third additional closing notice on May 23, a fourth additional notice on May 30, fifth and sixth notices of additional store closing locations filed on June 6, and a seventh notice of additional store closing locations filed on June 13.
The first eight groups of store closings listed 829 locations in 13 states, including California (237), Pennsylvania (233), New York (121), Washington (52), New Hampshire (37), New Jersey (35), Oregon (32), Virginia (25), Delaware (23), Maryland (15), Connecticut (7), Idaho (5), Massachusetts (3), Vermont (2), and Ohio (2).
Rite Aid will file a few more additional store closing notices before its bankruptcy case closes, since it plans to close all of its stores, estimated at about 1,240.
Related: Bankrupt retail chain closing dozens more store locations
