Rite Aid is shuttering 53 additional stores in nine states across the US as a part of the corporate’s bankruptcy proceedings, in keeping with recent court filings.
Stores are closing in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Latest Jersey, Latest York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In accordance with Reuters, Rite Aid received permission from a bankruptcy judge on March 28 to start voting on a bankruptcy restructuring plan that may turn over a lot of the company’s equity to its bondholders while still leaving open the opportunity of a sale.
The corporate filed for bankruptcy in October in an attempt to deal with high debt.
The filing geared toward shutting down poor-performing locations and selling off “non-core business units,” Reuters reported.
The initial list of store closures stood at 154 and has continued to grow throughout the bankruptcy proceedings.
Rite Aid has denied any wrongdoing but can be still finalizing some settlements considered key to the restructuring process, including an agreement related to a Justice Department probe of the pharmacy’s opioid sales, in keeping with Reuters.
Rite Aid is shuttering 53 additional stores in nine states across the US as a part of the corporate’s bankruptcy proceedings. Wayne Carrington
A “Store Closing” sign is displayed outside a Rite Aid in Detroit, Michigan on March 8, 2024. Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK
But lawyers for the corporate said it’s able to solicit votes from bondholders, who’re the critical voting class in its bankruptcy.
No other group will probably be entitled to vote in Rite Aid’s bankruptcy, and the bondholders’ votes are due Monday.
A Rite Aid spokesperson said via email to FOX Business the corporate doesn’t provide the media with an inventory of stores slated to shut, but “we notified the court of certain underperforming stores we’re closing to further reduce rent expense and strengthen overall financial performance.”
The court filings didn’t give a timetable for the closures, in keeping with WJW-TV.
The corporate filed for bankruptcy in October in an attempt to deal with high debt. Wayne Carrington
A Pennsauken, NJ Rite Aid displays its closing sign because the store is anticipated to shutter on May 9. Courier-Post photo by Jim Walsh / USA TODAY NETWORK
Rite Aid expects to hunt final court approval of its restructuring on April 22.
It received bankruptcy court approval to sell its pharmacy profit company, Elixir, in January.
Rite Aid’s first full-service pharmacy opened in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in keeping with the corporate’s website.
It now operates roughly 1,700 retail pharmacy locations in 16 states with a workforce of 45,000.
