String Of Hell's Kitchen Pharmacy Closures Rattle Residents

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Another drugstore is shutting its doors in Hell's Kitchen — the latest in a series of such closures that have whittled down residents' pharmacy options in recent years.

The latest pharmacy to shut its doors is the Rite Aid on Eighth Avenue and West 50th Street, which will close on Feb. 8 after more than 20 years in business, as the Daily News first reported.

It comes just over a month after the closure of a Duane Reade that had been in business for years on Ninth Avenue between West 43rd and 44th streets — attracting a devoted following for its stalwart staff, who had served the neighborhood since as far back as the AIDS crisis.

Duane Reade's parent company, Walgreens, has shuttered other stores in the area in recent years, including: a shop on the corner of West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue; another on 42nd Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway; and one on West 26th Street and Eighth Avenue in Chelsea.

Though chain drugstores may not inspire much affection when they open, their closures pose a hardship for neighbors — especially those who relied on them for medication. When news broke last fall of the Ninth Avenue Duane Reade closure, neighborhood officials begged the corporation to reconsider — but their efforts were unsuccessful.

Erik Bottcher, the new City Councilmember representing Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea, told Patch Monday that "the importance of a trusted local pharmacy has never been more clear than in the past two years," as pharmacists dispense reliable advice in the face of misinformation about treatments.

"We must explore every possible option to keep these stores open," Bottcher said in a statement.

Reasons for the closures are not always clear. The Rite Aid on Eighth Avenue is closing as the parent company shutters dozens of locations around the country — though the Daily News quoted residents and employees speculating that rampant shoplifting was a factor, as well as pandemic-related financial woes.

A Rite Aid spokesperson said that "we regularly review each of our locations to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers, communities and overall business."

"A decision to close a store is one we take very seriously, and is in response to business conditions and viability specific to that store," spokesperson Jeffrey Olson said. "It is not an indication of Rite Aid’s business as a whole; as a matter of fact, we’re eager to grow in markets we serve."

Olson could not immediately say where customers who hold prescriptions at the closing Rite Aid would be directed, though he said store employees would get job opportunities at nearby locations.

Besides medical needs, there is also the simple question of morale. Darcie Wilder, a writer who lives in Hell's Kitchen, tweeted Saturday in response to the Rite Aid closure that "my neighbors are all distressed" by the trend.

"My neighbors acted like they were the last few people in a ghost town before an especially harsh winter," she wrote.

Related coverage: Hell's Kitchen Duane Reade Closure Must Be Stopped, Pols Say