CANTON, Ohio — If it feels like every few days you're hearing about another Rite Aid closing, you're right. The pharmacy's released list after list of stores it's shutting down since it filed for bankruptcy last fall.
Four filings came just this month. More than a hundred of the stores closing are right here in Ohio, leaving some counties without any Rite Aid stores at all.
RELATED: Why are so many pharmacies closing?
That includes Stark County, and residents are feeling the impacts.
In Canton, Rite Aid is visited for a list of reasons: medicine, makeup, laundry detergent, and so much more, but with closing soon signs in the grass and hanging on the walls, residents learned they won’t be able to shop there anymore.
The Rite Aid on West Tuscarawas Street in Canton is one of a dozen other Ohio closures listed in court documents filed on June 21. But the closures didn't stop there; since then 50 other locations across the state announced closures too.
“I was really sad because it is a convenience and the fact that they were open 24/7 was a big help,” said Shirley Tyson, a Canton resident.
The domino effect on customers continues to spread following the company's bankruptcy filing. Brenda Dunivant, a Canton resident, sees it effecting the communities health. Almost every day, her husband goes to Rite Aid to shop for his 90-year-old mother, but now they’ll have to find a new drugstore.
“The fact that we just came out of pandemic and if something else would happen. It's going to be bad. It's really going to be bad, because you have to think about the people that need shots and to be treated and the drug stores really helped,” said Dunivant.
Melissa Star has been going to Rite Aid for 25 years. She agrees with Dunivant after learning from her doctor that she needs to find a new pharmacy.
“It gives us, you know, one less store to get our prescriptions from. I don't just get my prescriptions, I shop here too,” said Star.
On the doors of Rite Aid, a sign posted tells customers as of July 2, their prescriptions and records have been sent to Walgreens, also listing two of the nearest locations.
As residents pivot, they just hope another drug store doesn't close.
“They need to think about the elderly and when they shut down all the drugstores and small communities. It's hard. It's hard for the elderly, to get out to get what they need,” said Dunivant.
Two weeks after our report aired, Rite Aid sent us this statement:
Rite Aid regularly assesses its retail footprint to ensure we are operating efficiently while meeting the needs of our customers, communities, associates and overall business. While we have had to make difficult business decisions over the past several months to improve our business and optimize our retail footprint, we are committed to becoming financially and operationally healthy. We regularly update our website with information regarding store locations.
