Washington Heights Rite Aid Closing At Beginning Of May

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A Washington Heights Rite Aid will close next month and leave the immediate area without a chain pharmacy, a company spokesperson confirmed to Patch.

The Rite Aid outpost will close May 3 after more than a decade on the corner of West 186th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue, the spokesperson said.

The pharmacy, one of the only chain drugstores within a 10-block radius, is among 145 stores Rite Aid decided to close last year, a spokesperson told Patch.

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

"A decision to close a store is one we take very seriously and is based on a variety of factors including business strategy, lease and rent considerations, local business conditions and viability, and store performance."

In the earlier closure announcement, the company said it was getting rid of "unprofitable stores" to "significantly reduce costs."

Rumors have circulated in the neighborhood that the closure is linked to shoplifting, but Rite Aid did not confirm this assessment and it does not appear among reasons listed in a December announcement.

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.

There are still Rite Aid locations in Washington Heights at 4188 Broadway (near West 178th Street), and at 4046 Broadway (near West 171st Street).

In terms of Rite Aid locations more uptown, there isn't another outpost until much deeper into Inwood at 4918 Broadway.

Locals looking for a pharmacy closer to home might try the Twin Pharmacy at 1538 Saint Nicholas Ave. or Heidi Pharmacy at 522 W. 181st St.