The seasonal department in the last picture essentially splits the store in half, with the right side being home to the health and beauty section. It feels weird to consider health and beauty to be a department in a drugstore -- that's their main focus, after all -- but this is a large-format former Pay 'n Save, so it's a good bit larger than the typical drugstore and has a fairly significant grocery and home department on the left side of the store. Plus, it seems that Rite Aid isn't carrying as much health and beauty stuff anymore, in favor of... well, nothing, really, as the empty shelves throughout this store demonstrate. (I remember a few years back, there was talk that Rite Aid would be moving towards more natural stuff and potentially even "alternative" [fake] medicine, and I believe that's what the "rethinking our ingredients" endcap sign refers to, but it doesn't seem like that's ever materialized.) It's sad to see their stores in this state, since they were once the dominant local drugstore chain (riding on Pay 'n Save/Payless's success), and a few years back they even
talked about Washington as their main focus market for growth and investment, something that has clearly been abandoned as they have instead closed many stores and remodeled absolutely none, as far as I can tell.
This store does have a sad vibe to it. The holes in the inventory might have a lot to do with that. I really don't have any personal experience with Rite Aid, but with all that is said about them, I can't say I'm surprised that this store is lacking shoppers. They seem to be trailing behind Walgreens and CVS quite badly and the fact that Rite Aid has these oversized west coast stores only makes matters worse.
ReplyDeleteThe fortunes of drug store chains can vary though. Take Walgreens for example. They've been in Houston for nearly a hundred years (since 1929 when they bought their way into town) and although people generally preferred Eckerd when Eckerd was around, Walgreens has a rich history in Houston with their Globe discount stores and all that. OTOH, Walgreens didn't enter Dallas until around 1994 when, I believe, they entered Seattle and many other markets. Technically, Walgreens did have a couple of Dallas stores in around the 1960s, but they closed until Walgreens re-entered years later. Their success in two somewhat similar markets was quite different. Granted, these days, both Dallas and Houston are Walgreens-CVS duopolies.
Yeah, and sadly, it's been a long time since I've been in a Rite Aid without a sad feel (though admittedly, I don't visit Rite Aids very often anymore since their prices aren't great and they've closed so many of the stores that would have been convenient to me).
DeleteAnd honestly, it feels like all of the chain drugstores around here are struggling. Walgreens and CVS have also closed quite a few stores recently, including some brand-new ones in CVS's case, and Bartell was apparently doing so badly that they got bought out by Rite Aid, of all companies. I'm not entirely sure why, since their main competitors (grocery and big box stores) don't tend to have particularly great pricing either (with the exception of Walmart, but they've been stagnant with relatively few stores for decades now), but maybe having four chains in a not-that-big market just ended poorly for everyone involved.