Major Pharmacy Closing All NJ Locations Amid Bankruptcy

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid has closed the remainder of its stores in New Jersey and nationwide as it continues its bankruptcy proceedings.

"All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support," the company announced on its website. More than 1,100 employees were laid off in New Jersey amid the closings, according to a notice filed with the state Department of Labor.

Customers who have immunization and prescription records with the chain can still request them online, the company said.

Rite Aid also has a list of pharmacies where customers' prescriptions were transferred if the customers had not made the transfers themselves.

Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy restructuring in 2023, after the Philadelphia-based company had been struggling with losses for years. It entered the second Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding in May with debt exceeding $2 billion, according to ConnectCRE.

The company had been the nation's third-largest pharmacy chain behind CVS and Walgreens, and had operated about 2,000 pharmacies as recently as 2023. It had about 1,240 stores when it started the second bankruptcy; those stores were to be sold.