Rite Aid to close at least two Erie pharmacies as the chain pursues bankruptcy
Rite Aid is closing at least two inner-city Erie pharmacies as the drug store chain negotiates with creditors over a bankruptcy plan.
Employees at both Erie pharmacies, 2715 Parade St. and 1709 Liberty St., have posted yellow discount signs throughout the store, and begun removing items from store shelves and placing them into plastic containers.
The Parade Street store will close Oct. 9 and the Liberty Street store will close Oct. 19, employees confirmed. It is not known if additional Rite Aid pharmacies in Erie County will close.
Rite Aid's corporate office did not return multiple phone and email messages seeking comment. Rite Aid currently operates five pharmacies in the city of Erie, two in Millcreek Township and one in Harborcreek Township.
Rite Aid might close up to 500 of the chain's more than 2,100 pharmacies nationwide, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Camp Hill-based pharmacy chain is reportedly negotiating with its creditors over a bankruptcy plan.
Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy would allow Rite Aid to restructure its $3 billion debt load and help it address lawsuits that claim the chain filed hundreds of thousands of opioid prescriptions unlawfully, according to USA Today.
More: Is Rite Aid at risk of bankruptcy?What a Chapter 11 filing would mean for shoppers.
The Erie pharmacies' impending closings will reduce residents' access to prescription drugs in an area of the city that already is medically underserved, said Marcus Babiak, a pharmacist and Millcreek Community Hospital's chief operating officer.
LECOM Health, the hospital's parent organization, operates medical offices near each Rite Aid pharmacy: Eastside Medical Center, 2625 Parade St., and Plaza 18 Medical Center, 537 W. 18th St.
"Residents in those neighborhoods can purchase front-end items and over-the-counter medications at a Dollar General or convenience store, but losing access to a pharmacist is key," Babiak said.
LECOM Health will work with patients at both of its medical offices to help them find another pharmacy if they currently use one of the Rite Aid locations.
One option would be to transfer their prescriptions to LECOM Health-owned Colonial Family Pharmacies. Though neither pharmacy is located near the closing Rite Aids, they offer free delivery in those neighborhoods, Babiak said.
"As for other services, like immunizations and vaccinations, they can schedule those at Eastside Medical Center and Plaza 18," Babiak said.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Rite Aid pharmacies in Erie to close as part of bankruptcy plans
