End Of An Era: Rite Aid Closing Its Last Upper West Side Location

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The last Rite Aid outpost on the Upper West Side will close at the end of January, an employee confirmed to Patch.

The Rite Aid at 741 Columbus Ave., near West 97th Street, has been the last location of the chain in the neighborhood since a different location at 210-20 Amsterdam Ave. closed in the fall of 2021.

The Rite Aid employee told Patch that increased rent was an element in the closure, but hung up before a follow up question could be asked.

There are 10 Rite Aid stores left in Manhattan after the Upper West Side location closes. The chain shuttered nearly 150 stores in 2022 that weren't considered profitable.

The Rite Aid at 97th and Columbus also has a pharmacy, meaning that the Upper West Siders who use it will have to transfer their prescriptions. The closest pharmacy is a Duane Reade at 94th and Broadway.

In September, a Rite Aid executive complained about shoplifting in New York City following a weaker than expected quarterly earnings report.

The issue of shoplifting in New York City drugstores, specifically at Rite Aids, was thrust into the limelight in January when comedian Michael Rapaport's video — which he said was of an Upper East Side location was closing due to thefts — went viral.

The New York Post did a follow-up story about the Rite Aid at the corner of 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen closing because of the increase in thefts.

Sources told The Post at the time that shoplifters took more than $200,000 in merchandise in just two months at the location.

Rite Aid is the United State's fourth-largest drugstore chain.

ILoveTheUpperWestSide was the first publication to report on the UWS Rite Aid shuttering.