Rite Aid plans to close at least 12 stores in Michigan as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, but that could lead to the closing of all stores in the state.
A document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Monday, June 17, lists 27 stores that will be closing in Michigan and Ohio. But Rite Aid also sent a statement to MLive on Monday saying it has made the “difficult but necessary business decision” to close all stores in Michigan, where it will exit the market, and close nearly all stores in Ohio.
Rite Aid currently operates 186 stores in Michigan and 143 in Ohio.
“The majority of prescription and pharmacy inventory from the affected stores will be shifted to Walgreens,” the initial statement said.
Rite Aid then attempted to get the email retracted, with a spokesperson saying they needed to update the statement, but the company has not responded since.
According to court documents, these 12 stores are closing:
- Allen Park, 15411 Southfield Road
- Bay City, 3880 Wilder Road
- Burton, G4033 Fenton Road
- Burton, 6026 Lapeer Road
- Flint, 4519 Richfield Road
- Grosse Pointe Farms, 107 Kercheval Ave.
- Livonia, 37399 6 Mile Road
- Ludington, 936 East Ludington Ave.
- The Marlette, 2985 Main Street
- Milford, 640 North Milford Road
- Spring Lake, 603 East Savidge Street
- Wyandotte, 1998 Biddle Ave.
Details on when the stores would close and how many workers would be affected were not immediately available.
Rite Aid declared bankruptcy in October 2023 as it faced declining sales and opioid-related lawsuits. Since last fall, the pharmacy has reportedly closed more than 520 stores across the country, including 19 already in Michigan.
In 2022, Rite Aid agreed to a $30 million settlement to resolve lawsuits that accused the pharmacy of contributing to the opioid crisis. Then in March 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint alleging that Rite Aid knowingly filled “at least hundreds of thousands of illegal prescriptions” from May 2014 to June 2019.
Other pharmacy chains have agreed to multi-billion dollar opioid settlements. CVS will pay up to $4.9 billion over a decade, Walgreens has agreed to pay $5.52 billion over 15 years, Kroger will pay $11.4 billion over 11 years and Walmart paid $2.74 billion last year.
The DOJ reportedly agreed to “pause for a short time” its lawsuit after Rite Aid went bankrupt.
Rite Aid is also struggling with declining sales as the latest investor report shows its annual revenue falling from $6 billion to $5.7 billion, projecting a loss of $306.7 million from June 2022 to June 2023.