CVS taking over Rite Aid, Bartell Drugs locations in WA
May 16, 2025, 6:10 AM
A customer leaves a Rite Aid store on April 14, 2022. (Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)
(Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)
Rite Aid has confirmed CVS will take over the operations of many of the Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs locations closing in Washington, according to regulatory filings.
CVS confirmed the plans to take over Rite Aid stores in a statement obtained by Reuters.
Rite Aid, which has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than two years, agreed to sell more than 1,000 of its stores to a group of competitors. That group includes Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, Giant Eagle, and, for the Pacific Northwest—CVS Pharmacy. The Pennsylvania-based pharmacy chain entered bankruptcy with more than $2 billion in debt.
The stores will remain open during the transition from Rite Aid to CVS, meaning customers can continue to access pharmacy services without disruption.
“As we move forward, our key priorities are ensuring uninterrupted pharmacy services for our customers and preserving jobs for as many associates as possible,” Rite Aid CEO Matt Schroeder said in a press release.
Which Rite Aid stores in WA are closing?
Eight Rite Aid stores are closing in Washington across eight different cities.
Anacortes is losing its location at 1517 Commercial Avenue, while Ephrata is losing its 250 Basin Street store. The other Rite Aid stores affected are in Granite Falls (608 W. Stanley Street), Kingston (27000 Miller Bay Road N.E.), North Bend (248 Bendigo Boulevard), Omak (609 Omache Drive), Snoqualmie (35013 Snoqualmie Parkway), and Yelm (909 E. Yelm Avenue).
The Ephrata and North Bend locations are Bartell’s pharmacy stores.
Bartell, founded in 1890 in Seattle, was believed to be the nation’s oldest existing family-owned drugstore chain until it was sold to Rite Aid in 2020 for $95 million.
“So my local Bartell’s, which we have been customers of for years, closed down, and all of our information was shipped over to Rite Aid,” KIRO host Spike O’Neill said while filling in for “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “They, in fact, took the entirety of the pharmacy department of our local Bartels, and there were some growing pains. Took a while to get things dialed in, but the same staff was there, and now the Rite Aid, which is our local convenient pharmacist and pharmacy, now they’re going away.”
Only California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania had more Rite Aid closures.
Contributing: KIRO 7
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