Rite-Aid closing all stores and not buying new inventory

[citruscurtis]

So what happened to rexall drug store....our small community one closed in 1977

 

[tvguy]

So what happened to rexall drug store....our small community one closed in 1977

Always heard of Rexall, not sure we had any. Short answer, the company discovered it could make more money selling it's stores than it could operating them.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I forgot about Rexall! There was one big Rexall (now a CVS) that had Thrifty's (or some kind of) ice cream in the big tubs for customers to purchase a scoop of. This was/is in LA.

 

[DodgerGirl]

When it came to drug stores they were very popular because many people would go to them not only for medicines prescriptions and other health items but you could also find stuff like during the holidays Christmas decorations Christmas lights and Christmas cards and every Easter or Halloween you could get good deals on Easter candy and Halloween candy as well as Halloween costumes or accessories for a Halloween costume and Easter baskets and you could get good deals on snacks for movie nights and that's what made drug stores so huge. In Rite Aid's case the reason why Rite Aid went downhill is because a lot of people blame the Payless Drugs/Thrifty merger of the 90's and I think once Thrifty and Payless Drugs merged together little did they know that this merge would be trouble in a few years for them. Because when you get the general picture Thrifty and Payless were always different drug stores because they would have different sales. And when me and Mom would go shopping Payless Drugs was always our favorite hangout because in my eyes they were always superior to Thrifty with more interesting stuff and they would sometimes have awesome stuff like stereos and movies and even a CD section. But I think CVS is the one to blame for taking all the glory away from all the other drug stores because CVS has become the king of drug stores now. Because now that CVS has made themselves king all the other drug store chains have gone broke or disappeared forever. And with stores like Walmart Target Fred Meyer Costco and grocery stores like Vons Albertsons Lucky and Safeway having pharmacies drug stores have become extinct as dinosaurs. And if you look at any city you'll always will find an independent pharmacy usually next to a hospital because when you look at it when you are an independent pharmacy and you are located near a hospital those places make a lot of money because you have people who pick up prescriptions for patients who are getting home from the hospital after a hospital stay so really those pharmacies aren't gonna close. But I think Rite Aid will be sold to Walgreens and Rite Aid will transform itself into Walgreens

 

[PollyannaMom]

We lost our Rite Aid quite a few years ago. I'm grateful we still have a CVS and a Walgreens, but I have missed the Rite Aid at times because I liked the location.

 

[_19disnA]

Drug stores seem to be like gas stations, one on almost every corner and they eventually put each other out of business since they are all competing for the same customers. Stores like Walmart or Target sell the same items for less and have a much bigger variety of items. Can't recall the last time I was even in a drugstore.

 

[KPeterso]

My local Rite Aid has never been all that great. But the last year, the shelves are more bare than full. Entire shelves empty with what was left consolidated on 2-3 shelves. My insurance will not allow me to use CVS and this was my next closest option. Not sure what I will pick now as I hate Walgreens and Walmart. Not sold on Costco. And not a mail order fan. And yes, I realize I am limiting myself.

 

[bcla]

The Target near us took out their pharmacy out when they added groceries.

Every target around here has a CVS branded pharmacy. Even the Target Express in downtown Berkeley.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

My closest Target also has a CVS Pharmacy.

 

[bcla]

So what happened to rexall drug store....our small community one closed in 1977

Rexall wasn't really a chain business. It was more a retailers cooperative like or Ace Hardware or what True Value used to be. They were independent stores but got access to Rexall branded products. There might have been some company owned stores, but they were mostly local businesses that accessed their branded products and had a sign out in front.

I see a few old Rexall signs. Not sure how that works, but I've seen some indications that they still operate as a licensing company where businesses can pay a fee to display those old signs.

Looks like the brand name is owned by McKesson and Dollar General has licensed it for some products.

https://www.dollargeneral.com/c/dg-brands/rexall

Strike that. I looked up Rexall in the USPTO trademark database. Lots of dead trademarks that were registered to United Drug Company (Rexall's corporate name) or Rexall Drug Company. Apparently any currently active trademark registrations are owned by Nestlé.

Strike that yet again. Found the labels for the Rexall branded items at Dollar General and that says it's licensed by Rexall Sundown. I guess that's separate from Nestlé.

 

[citruscurtis]

Rexall drug store 1960s in hi-desert north of Palm springs was a very comforting Christmas store with high end Christmas . There is where I found comfort in Andy Williams and Nat King Cole and still do today.... I wonder if any younger generations find such comfort in retail settings

 

[BrianL]

Rexall wasn't really a chain business. It was more a retailers cooperative like or Ace Hardware or what True Value used to be. They were independent stores but got access to Rexall branded products. There might have been some company owned stores, but they were mostly local businesses that accessed their branded products and had a sign out in front.

I see a few old Rexall signs. Not sure how that works, but I've seen some indications that they still operate as a licensing company where businesses can pay a fee to display those old signs.

Looks like the brand name is owned by McKesson and Dollar General has licensed it for some products.

https://www.dollargeneral.com/c/dg-brands/rexall

Strike that. I looked up Rexall in the USPTO trademark database. Lots of dead trademarks that were registered to United Drug Company (Rexall's corporate name) or Rexall Drug Company. Apparently any currently active trademark registrations are owned by Nestlé.

Strike that. Found the labels for the Rexall branded items at Dollar General and that says it's licensed by Rexall Sundown. I guess that's separate from Nestlé.

Yeah, I remember a few independent pharmacies with the Rexall name in smaller print on the sign. They were definitely "mom & pop" type places though. I don't think there are any left around here.

 

[citruscurtis]

Check out fairley drug Portland Oregon Sandy Blvd...

 

[bcla]

Yeah, I remember a few independent pharmacies with the Rexall name in smaller print on the sign. They were definitely "mom & pop" type places though. I don't think there are any left around here.

This was the place I was talking about. Used to be a pharmacy with a contract post office. Even then it wasn’t really Rexall affiliated other than the old sign.

The pharmacist said he closed down the pharmacy business because the high cost of prescription meds wasn’t matched by his medical plan reimbursements. That’s basically how Rexall died in the late 70s.

https://patch.com/california/elcerrito/arlington-pharmacy-ends-8-decades-of-filling-prescriptions

 

[cabanafrau]

Rite Aid in our area were always grubby. If there are still any left they must be few and far between. The last time I walked into a CVS it was shocking. Not much merchandise and unbelievable how much was barricaded from customers. Maybe 15 years ago Walgreen's were building everywhere you looked. Maybe eight years ago they started moving locations that weren't on corners. Now the past couple years they've started simply closing locations altogether.

 

[bcla]

Rite Aid in our area were always grubby. If there are still any left they must be few and far between. The last time I walked into a CVS it was shocking. Not much merchandise and unbelievable how much was barricaded from customers. Maybe 15 years ago Walgreen's were building everywhere you looked. Maybe eight years ago they started moving locations that weren't on corners. Now the past couple years they've started simply closing locations altogether.

The thing about CVS is that a good portion of their income comes from their health services. The pharmacies more or less have to exist for the business to make sense.

https://www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/cvs-s-health-services-revenue-grew-to-186-8-billion

 

[cabanafrau]

The thing about CVS is that a good portion of their income comes from their health services. The pharmacies more or less have to exist for the business to make sense.

https://www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/cvs-s-health-services-revenue-grew-to-186-8-billion

With three elderly parents between DH and I in late 80s, and 90+ I'm quite familiar with the health services arm of CVS, painfully so. The primer really wasn't necessary -- and doesn't really support the prospect CVS needs to maintain the current status quo of brick and mortar operations in order to keep the bottom line in the black.

 

[barkley]

Rexall drug store 1960s in hi-desert north of Palm springs was a very comforting Christmas store with high end Christmas . There is where I found comfort in Andy Williams and Nat King Cole and still do today.... I wonder if any younger generations find such comfort in retail settings

I get it. I actually own the old school am/fm/dual cassette boom-box my 140 plus year old pharmacy used for ambiance music for decades. they put it on a clearance table for $10 a few years back when the owners went more 'modern tech' (as the staff calls it). I love that there are little liquid paper marks on the am and fm tuner indicators for the 'approved stations' the pharmacy staff could choose between (easy listening, oldies and the local jazz only stations ).

 

[bcla]

With three elderly parents between DH and I in late 80s, and 90+ I'm quite familiar with the health services arm of CVS, painfully so. The primer really wasn't necessary -- and doesn't really support the prospect CVS needs to maintain the current status quo of brick and mortar operations in order to keep the bottom line in the black.

Part of their business model is of a vertically integrated company where the first contact is at a physical store to drive/support their health services business.

This is a transcript of a presentation on CVS's 2023 Investor Day by Prem Shah, their Chief Pharmacy Officer. It's a bit flowery and I don't know if I believe they're the best run retail pharmacy in the industry, but whatever.

https://s2.q4cdn.com/447711729/file...2/CVS-Health-2023-Investor-Day-Transcript.pdf​

Retail pharmacy has been around for a long time. And it will continue to be around. It's a critical component of healthcare delivery in this country. Our retail stores are the cornerstone of our brand and of our consumer engagement. Has one of the most frequent interactions in all of healthcare. It's especially important as you think about the things that Brian just mentioned, the aging population. And the resulting ongoing incremental demand for clinical services that are going to be needed in our local communities. And as we've said all day today, healthcare is local. Pharmacy is local and CVS has a proud, long legacy of serving our local communities.​

​

It's not changing. It's not changing because we're here. We're here to engage every consumer and gain their trust before and during their healthcare journeys. We're here and available when patients are sick and need to feel better. Even if that means it's on nights and weekends, when it may be challenging to find other healthcare service delivery assets open. More than 55% of our prescriptions that are acute are dispensed on the very same day that they're prescribed. We have over 60% of our front store sales that are driven for health and wellness items.​

​

We were here and we will continue to be here through natural disasters, public health emergencies. We played an absolutely instrumental role in our local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic as a convenient and necessary access point for testing and vaccinations. We're also here to deliver incremental clinical services. Last year alone, we delivered over 45 million immunizations in our stores. CVS Health is here for our communities. And being local is absolutely critical.​

​

But now when you think about our performance, it's critical, it's very clear that we are the best run retail pharmacy in the industry. Our scale, our engagement, our expertise, the trust the consumers have, have enabled us to deliver industry-leading performance across every domain. We continue to grow our consumer base, continue to grow our scripts, we continue to grow share and our front store continues to grow our drug share. And as Tom mentioned earlier, we continue to have strong financials. Our Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness segment delivers strong cash flow generation that enables our enterprise growth.​

 

[RedAngie]

The closest Rite Aid to me closed sometime last summer. About 3 or 4 in the extended area also closed.

I have a Walgreens, 2 CVS’s (one directly across the road from Walgreens), 2 supermarket pharmacies, and 2 independent Mom and Pop pharmacies all within a 10 minute drive. Plus perhaps 3 or 4 more within 20 minutes.

The neighborhood drugstore a block away my childhood home was Rexall branded.