Rite Aid

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Rite Aid Corporation is a drugstore chain in the United States. The company ranked No. 94 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. It is headquartered in Camp Hill, East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest in the U.S.
Rite Aid began in 1962, opening its first store in Scranton, Pennsylvania; it was called Thrift D Discount Center. After several years of growth, Rite Aid adopted its current name and debuted as a public company in 1968. As of 2019, Rite Aid is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RAD. Its major competitors are CVS and Walgreens. In late 2015, Walgreens announced that it would acquire Rite Aid for $9.4 billion pending approval. However, on June 29, 2017, over fear of antitrust regulations, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced it would buy roughly half of Rite Aid's stores for $5.18 billion. On September 19, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a fourth deal agreement to purchase Rite Aid with 1,932 stores for $4.38 billion total.
== History ==
Alex Grass founded the Rite Aid chain in Scranton, Pennsylvania in September 1962, after marrying into Harrisburg Pennsylvania's Lehrman family in the early 1950s. The first store was called Thrift D Discount Center. The store expanded into five additional states in 1965 and went public as Rite Aid in 1968. It moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1970. Rite Aid is one of Fortune 500's Largest U.S. Corporations.
=== Growth and acquisitions ===
Ten years after its first store opened, Rite Aid operated 267 locations in 10 states. 1983 marked a sales milestone of $1 billion. A 420-store acquisition along the east coast expanded Rite Aid's holdings beyond 2,000 locations, as did the acquisition of Gray Drug in 1987. Among the companies acquired was Baltimore, Maryland's Read's Drug Store. On April 10, 1989, Peoples Drug's 114 unit Lane Drug of Ohio was purchased by Rite Aid.
Rite Aid acquired twenty-four Hook's Drug stores from Revco in 1994, selling nine of those stores to Perry Drug Stores, a Michigan-based pharmacy chain. One year later, in turn, the 224-store Perry chain was acquired by Rite Aid. The 1,000-store West Coastchain Thrifty PayLess was later acquired in 1996. The acquisition of Thrifty PayLess included the Northwest-based Bi-Mart membership discount stores, which was sold off in 1998. Acquisitions of Harco, Inc. and K&B, Inc. brought Rite Aid into the Gulf Coast area.
thumb|220x220px|Interior of an untouched Rite Aid in Hancock, New York. This one is on the ballot for a Walgreens conversion.
In the 1990s, Rite Aid partnered with Carl Paladino's Ellicott Development Co. to expand the company's presence in upstate New York.
In 2015, Rite Aid purchased EnvisionRx, a pharmacy benefit manager, which owns subsidiary PBMs MedTrak, Connect Health Solutions, and Smith Premier Services.
=== Partnerships ===
General Nutrition Corporation (GNC) and Rite Aid formed a partnership in January 1999, bringing GNC mini-stores within the Rite Aid pharmacies. A partnership with drugstore.com in June 1999 allowed customers of Rite Aid to place medical prescription orders online for same-day, in-store pickup.
In March 2018, Walgreens and Rite Aid agreed to a $4.3 billion deal for Walgreens to purchase 1,932 Rite Aid locations and 3 distribution centers.
Amazon announced in June 2019, that Amazon shoppers will be able to pick up their purchases at designated counters inside more than 100 Rite Aid stores across the US. The new service is called Counter and launches in the US after finding success in the UK with the Next clothing chain and in Italy with Giunti Al Punto Librerie, Fermopoint and SisalPay stores.
In May of 2022, Rite Aid partnered with Homeward, a rural home care startup. Under this partnership, Medicare-eligible customers will be directed to Homeward's clinical services and will have access to Homeward mobile care units.
=== Company troubles ===
At the time, Rite Aid had just acquired Thrifty PayLess and was integrating the stores into the company. As a result, Leonard Green, who ran the investment firm that had sold those stores to Rite Aid, took control of the company and installed Mary Sammons from Fred Meyer as CEO.
In July 2001, Rite Aid agreed to improve their pharmacy complaint process by implementing a new program to respond to consumer complaints.
On July 25, 2004, Rite Aid agreed to pay $7 million to settle allegations that the company had submitted false prescription claims to United States government health insurance programs.
In August 2007, Rite Aid acquired approximately 1,850 Brooks and Eckerd Stores throughout the United States in hopes of improving their accessibility to a wider range of consumers. On December 21, 2007, The New York Times reported that Rite Aid had record-breaking losses that year, despite the acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd chains. The following fiscal quarter saw an increase in revenue but a sharp fall in net income as Rite Aid began the integration process. Rite Aid shares fell over 75% between September 2007 and September 2008, closing at a low of $0.98 on September 11, 2008. Rite Aid shares subsequently dropped to $0.20 on March 6, 2009, the all-time low as of 4 December 2018.
Scott Cole & Associates, APC filed a class action lawsuit against Rite Aid Corporation on behalf of its salaried California Store Managers. It was alleged that Rite Aid failed to pay overtime to these workers and denied them their meal and rest periods. In 2009, the action settled for $6.9 million.
Rite Aid had a major accounting scandal that led to the departure (and subsequent jail time) of several top ranking executives, including CEO Martin Grass. After serving six years in prison, Martin Grass was released on January 18, 2010. Founder Alex Grass died of cancer on August 27, 2009.
In June 2010 John Standley was promoted from Chief Operating Officer to Chief Executive Officer, with former CEO Mary Sammons retaining her position as Chairperson; Ken Martindale, previously co-President of Pathmark, was named Chief Operating Officer.
In October 2018, a former Rite Aid vice president of advertising and two co-owners of Nuvision Graphics Inc. plead guilty to in a $5.7 Million kick-back scheme defrauding Rite Aid.[29][30][31]
=== Customer loyalty and rewards programs ===
The wellness+ card is Rite Aid's free shopping rewards card that started nationwide on April 18, 2010. It became a part of the newly launched American Express-backed Plentirewards program in May 2015. Rite Aid introduced wellness+ BonusCash on January 1, 2018. Customers can no longer earn Plenti points; instead, they earn BonusCash that can only be redeemed at Rite Aid. However, Rite Aid would remain a part of the Plenti rewards program, which would end on July 10, 2018. After Plenti was discontinued Rite Aid re-introduced the wellness+ program.
=== Merger with Eckerd and Brooks ===
On August 23, 2006 the Wall Street Journal announced that Rite Aid would be buying the Eckerd Pharmacy and Brooks Pharmacy chains (Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy) from the Quebec-based Jean Coutu Group for US$3.4 billion, and merging the two chains into one dominant pharmacy system. The company's shareholders overwhelmingly approved the merger on January 18, 2007.[1]After some store closures and the conversion of the two chains was completed, Rite Aid became the dominant drug store retailer in the Eastern U.S., and the third largest drug retailer nationwide (behind the faster-growing Walgreens and CVS chains).
Similar to what CVS experienced in the Chicago metropolitan area after its purchase of Albertsons drug store chains, the deal gave Rite Aid stores that were too close to each other. (Only 23 stores nationally were sold to Walgreens, The Medicine Shoppe, or independent owners to meet federal regulations.) In many situations, especially in Pennsylvania, where both chains were dominant and had roots in the Commonwealth (Rite Aid originated in Scranton; Eckerd began in Erie, while Thrift Drug was popular in the Pittsburgh area), there were, in some cases, neighboring Rite Aid stores. However, in March 2008 some of these overlapping stores were closed. Most of these stores that closed were pre-existing Rite Aids from before the Eckerd deal, since Eckerd had built newer, more modern stores with drive-through pharmacies and larger space under ownership of both JCPenney and Jean Coutu Group; and the "moved to" sites were converted Eckerds. Employees at the closed stores were transferred to nearby ones, so no layoffs were necessary.
Rite Aid had sold some stores to JCPenney's Thrift Drug chain in the mid-1990s shortly before JCPenney's acquisition of Eckerd and had also sold all of their Massachusetts stores to Brooks in 1995, bringing some existing Eckerd and Brooks stores that were once Rite Aids full circle.
Because Eckerd was previously owned by JCPenney, Eckerd stores accepted JCPenney charge cards. Since the merger, all Rite Aids take JCPenney charge cards, a policy also followed by competitor CVS/pharmacy, which had earlier acquired most of the Eckerd chain in the southeastern United States.
As of 2019, California with 568 stores is home to the largest number of Rite Aids, followed by New York and Pennsylvania with 559 and 547 respectively.
With the acquisition of Brooks Eckerd, at its peak in 2008, Rite Aid had a total of 5,059 stores and employed 112,800 people.
=== Market exits ===
On January 4, 2008, Rite Aid Corporation announced that it would terminate operation of its 28 Rite Aid stores in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area and had signed an agreement to sell patient prescription files from that metro market to Walgreens. The company said Las Vegas was a non-core market that had not been contributing to overall results, and it had not opened a new store there since 1999. One Nevada store would remain open in Gardnerville, near the California border, where Rite Aid at the time had more than 600 stores.
On February 5, 2009, Rite Aid announced that it would terminate operations of seven Rite Aid stores in San Francisco, along with five stores in eastern Idaho through a sale to Walgreens.
Rite Aid formerly had a presence in the Columbus, Ohio market, but has since sold off its stores there to CVS.
=== Sale of stores to Walgreens ===
thumb|220x220px|A former Rite Aid in Oneida, New York, which has converted to a Walgreens.
On October 27, 2015, Walgreens announced that it would acquire Rite Aid in a deal valued at $9.4 billion ($9 per share), pending regulatory and shareholder approval. The deal would have resulted in a merger of two of the United States' three largest pharmacy chains. Walgreens planned to keep the Rite Aid name on existing stores when the deal went through, though the long term plans for the Rite Aid name were unknown. On December 21, 2016, it was announced that Fred's would acquire 865 Rite Aid stores as a result of the merger for $950 million, for antitrust reasons. In January 2017, Rite Aid and Walgreens cut the price of the merger to approximately $6.8 billion and delayed the merger by six months. On January 31, 2017, it was reported that the workers' union 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, representing 6,000 Rite Aid Corp workers, was opposed to the sale of the Rite Aid stores to Fred's Inc.
On June 29, 2017, Walgreens (WBA) announced the merger was cancelled, adding that it would be purchasing 2,186 stores from Rite Aid for $5.2 billion plus a $325 million penalty for cancelling. Most experts had thought that the merger would be completed within a few weeks. The merger would have had about 46% of the market share. The revised deal—now not including Fred's at all—effectively would have seen Rite Aid exit the Southeastern United States.
thumb|220x220px|Banner reminding shoppers of the change in pharmacy ownership.
On September 19, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a fourth deal agreement, this time allowing Walgreens to purchase only 1,932 Rite-Aid stores for $4.38 billion. The sale was completed on March 27, 2018. Three distribution centers and related inventory will be transferred after September 1, 2018, when the stores will be rebranded to Walgreens. The 1,932 stores had banners saying "This Rite Aid now has a Walgreens Pharmacy" in the meantime.
As of fiscal year 2022, Pennsylvania with 494 stores is home to the largest number of Rite Aids, followed by California and New York with 487 and 281 respectively.
=== Attempted acquisition by Albertsons ===
On February 20, 2018, Albertsons announced plans to acquire the remainder of Rite-Aid, including the 2,600 stores not acquired by Walgreens, in a merger of equals, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. On August 8, 2018, Rite Aid announced that the plan had failed to please shareholders and the proposed acquisition would be cancelled.
=== Acquisition of Bartell Drugs ===
In October 2020, Rite Aid announced the acquisition of the privately held Bartell Drugs, a 67-location Seattle-area chain, for $95 million. Some customers have criticized the acquisition with reports of heavy staff turnover and computer system glitches.
=== Finances ===
For the second quarter of 2019, Rite Aid reported basic and diluted earnings of -0.34 per share. This is significantly down from prior quarters' report of .20 per share.
Year	Revenue
in thousands USD$	Net income
in thousands USD$	Total Assets
in thousands USD$	Employees	Stores
2005	16,715,598	302,478 	5,932,583 	71,200 	3,356
2006	17,163,044	1,273,006 	6,988,371 	70,200 	3,323
2007	17,399,383	26,826 	7,091,024 	69,700 	3,333
2008	24,326,846	−1,078,990	11,488,023	112,800 	5,059
2009	26,289,268	−2,915,420	8,326,540 	103,000 	4,901
2010	25,669,117	−506,676 	8,049,911 	97,500 	4,780
2011	25,214,907	−555,424 	7,555,850 	91,800 	4,714
2012	26,121,222	−368,571 	7,264,385 	90,000 	4,667
2013	25,392,263	118,105 	6,985,038 	89,000 	4,623
2014	25,526,413	249,414 	6,860,672 	89,000 	4,587
2015	26,528,377	2,109,173 	8,777,425 	89,000 	4,570
2016	30,736,657	165,465 	11,277,010	90,000 	4,561
2017	32,845,073	4,053 	11,593,752	88,000 	4,536
2018	21,528,968	−349,532 	8,989,327 	60,800 	2,550
2019	21,639,557	−666,954 	7,591,367 	53,100 	2,464
2020	21,928,390	-452,174 	9,452,369 	 	
=== Litigation ===
==== Hall v. Rite Aid Corporation ====
In the employee seating lawsuit (Hall v. Rite Aid Corporation, San Diego County Superior Court), the parties reached a class action settlement for $18 million plus institution of a two-year pilot seating program for front-end checkstands. On September 14, 2018, the Court granted preliminary approval of the settlement. On November 16, 2018, the court granted final approval of the settlement.
==== In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation ====
As reported by Rite Aid, the company is a defendant in the consolidated multidistrict litigation proceeding, In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Various plaintiffs (such as counties, cities, hospitals, and third-party payors) allege claims concerning the impacts of widespread opioid abuse against defendants along the pharmaceutical supply chain, including manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and retail pharmacy chains.
==== Byron Stafford v. Rite Aid Corp. and Robert Josten v. Rite Aid Corp. ====
As reported by Rite Aid, the company is involved in two consumer class action lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging that it has overcharged customers' insurance companies for prescription drug purchases, resulting in overpayment of co-pays.
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