For Elise Pegg, a quick stop at her neighborhood Rite Aid has become a familiar, comforting routine in her five years in Philly.

“Me and my fiance always go home, and we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we love these people,’ “ Pegg said. “It’s just a personable experience.”

In Philadelphia, the Scranton-founded pharmacy chain has become more than just a place to get medicine, but a neighborhood grocer, a provider of answers to medical questions and a part of the local community.

“It’s less about service, you walk down the street, you just know the people that you’ve been going to for years,” said Pegg, 35. “It’s community.”

But Pegg’s trips will soon come to an end, as all 33 remaining Philadelphia Rite Aids are set to shutter in the coming months after an almost decade-long saga.

Philly’s most numerous pharmacy chain, which was once set to be bought by Walgreens in 2015, announced 100 more store closures last week, marking the seventh round of restructuring following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in May. That bankruptcy filing was its second. It first filed in October 2023, after reporting $100 million in losses in 2021 and closing 22 stores in the Philly region earlier that year.  

As of June 20, the total number of Rite Aid closures nationwide is roughly 700 and growing.  Earlier closures in May, more than 595 Rite Aid corporate office workers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard headquarters were laid off. Three Philadelphia-area locations have since closed, with more closures to follow. The total number of Rite Aid closures in Philadelphia currently stands at over 70.

The shelves of this Rite Aid mirror those of many stores around the country that have been marked for closure, being left partially stocked or empty altogether. (Davis Cuffe/Billy Penn)

Rite Aid’s removal has set off waves of consequences.

Chain pharmacy competitors CVS and Walgreens have 84 Philly locations between the two of them, but many Rite Aid customers have yet to plan for a transition of their medical needs.

“I don’t know where to go,” 27-year-old Isaiah Saunders said. “I know we have until the end of the summer, but I’m trying to work that out.”

In addition to CVS and Walgreens’ offerings, Philadelphia boasts a diverse range of non-chain pharmacies, with an estimated 200 independent pharmacies operating across the city. Still, some loyal Rite Aid customers like Pegg worry that what she had with her local Rite Aid won’t be easy to recapture.

“CVS, they’re very corporate,” Pegg said. “Every time I go there, it’s very impersonal, always a huge line and just not as close [to me].”

Now, with emptied shelves and hushed conversations of what’s next among employees, Pegg worries about the future of a location that had become a local artery of convenience and community.

“I’m kind of scared about what it will become,” she said. “I don’t know what they’re gonna do with this building, but I hope it’s something that can help people.”

Rite Aid locations in Philadelphia

Walgreens and CVS reportedly have acquired many Rite Aid locations across Philadelphia, though many remain in limbo. The trend is playing out nationally, too.  CVS recently announced that it had acquired 64 Rite Aid stores in Idaho, Oregon and Washington states.

Rite Aid employees are also impacted by the closures. In most cases, cashiers, pharmacists and managers will have to find employment elsewhere. 

Following the May closures, which resulted in over half of the Pennsylvania Rite Aid workforce being laid off, the number of total laid-off Pennsylvania employees is expected to rise to 1,100 by the end of the summer.

After building relationships with workers at his local Rite Aid, where he’s been a regular customer for over three years, Saunders now worries about their futures as well as his own.

“The people are really nice,” he said. “I asked a couple of them, like, ‘What’re you guys going to do? Are you going to transfer?’ And they seem to be unsure about what’s going to happen.”

Waves of consequence

Beyond customers and full-time permanent employees, there’s another set of impacted people: pharmacy students. Many of them worked at Rite Aid as part of their 1,500-hour experiential training requirement.

Scott Greene, a clinical assistant professor and assistant dean of experiential programs at Saint Joseph’s University, said Rite Aid was a “significant employer” of pharmacy students, who must now seek alternatives.


A former Rite Aid district manager and current professor in Saint Joseph’s College of Pharmacy, Greene believes the closures are a “real bad situation” for Philadelphia in particular, where he says Rite Aids were ubiquitous.

Now, with those Rite Aids disappearing and Philadelphia entering a transitional period as the pharmacies are replaced and residents make the switch, Greene believes emergency rooms could see an influx of excess patients.

“The emergency rooms are going to see a pickup,” Greene said. “When you think about the typical thing in a community pharmacy, you’re filling prescriptions and you’re taking care of patients, but you’re also answering a lot of questions. Somebody’s going to need to answer their questions.”

Greene worries disadvantaged groups may forgo their health needs altogether.

“If you think about people who don’t drive, or they’re disabled or financially they can’t get somewhere, I think some people are going to abandon some of their needs because they’re just not going to be able to [get help],” Greene said.

Greene compares the shift in pharmacy availability to the early 2020s, when many pharmacies stopped offering 24/7 service.

Back then, people simply adjusted their routines to visit during daytime hours, but in response to this more drastic change, Greene suggests a more proactive approach.

“The first thing I would do is find the closest pharmacy to you. I would figure out how I would get there, and then I would go in, and I would talk to the pharmacist and make sure that your medication prescription history has been transferred,” Greene said. “The other thing that they should be doing is talking to their provider, say, ‘Hey, my pharmacy is closing. I’m going to switch to this pharmacy.’ “

Left in the wake of these closures are the aforementioned chain competitors, CVS and Walgreens. CVS has 47 locations in Philadelphia, Walgreens has 37. CVS claims to have bids approved on the prescription files of 625 Rite Aid pharmacies.

Already with the most locations in the U.S. and with major plans for expansion, CVS feels confident that it will be able to accommodate an expanded patient base and workforce as Rite Aid dissolves.

“We’re working closely with Rite Aid on plans to ensure that the transition will be seamless for patients and customers and access to pharmacy care is not interrupted,” CVS said in a May statement. “Once the sale is finalized, we look forward to welcoming Rite Aid colleagues who are interested in applying to join the CVS team.”