Rite Aid, the Philadelphia-based drugstore chain currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is closing all three of its Ann Arbor locations amid hard times for the nation’s big retail pharmacies.
Two stores have already transferred their phone numbers and prescriptions to nearby Walgreens pharmacies. The Rite Aid at Packard and Platt now directs to Walgreens at Washtenaw and Huron Pkwy., and the Westgate Shopping Center pharmacy’s customers are referred across Maple Rd. to the Walgreens at 2355 Jackson Ave.
Both stores remain open for “everything must go” sales of their remaining merchandise at discounts of up to 60 percent off (except liquor). Store fixtures are also for sale. They’re slated to close on Aug. 18 and Aug. 25, respectively.
The northside location in the Plymouth Road Mall will close its pharmacy on Aug. 8 and the rest of the store on Sept. 15, according to manager Nancy Beaty, who says she’s unable to comment much beyond that. Rite Aid’s plans for transferring that store’s prescriptions are unclear; the closest competing pharmacies are in the Kroger store just across Nixon Rd. and the CVS at Plymouth and Green.
The big three retail pharmacies are closing more than 3,000 stores nationwide. Already overbuilt, they now face additional competition from mail-order and lower reimbursement rates from insurers and third-party pharmacy benefits managers. They also are dealing with costly lawsuits related to the dispensing of opioid medications. In July, Rite Aid settled federal litigation for $7.5 million in cash—and a bankruptcy claim of more than $400 million.
The local Rite Aid closures are consistent with the officially unconfirmed reports that the company will exit Michigan altogether. In June it notified the state that its Waterford Twp. distribution center will close Aug. 16, eliminating 191 jobs. Its corporate press office replied to an email inquiry in nonspecific terms, citing “difficult business decisions over the past several months to improve our business and optimize our retail footprint[.]”
Related: Walgreens Eats Rite Aid
Pierre Paul Design, in the Arlington Square plaza at Washtenaw and Huron Pkwy., closed earlier this year. No announcement was made, and inquiries received no response, but most of its website content has been removed. The storefront is under construction as a future Real Estate One office, per the permit paperwork on the window there.
Haitian-born Lee Jean-Gilles founded and owned the longtime business, which changed names, locations, and services a few times over the decades. His website bio noted that he displayed his work at age thirteen at the Ann Arbor Art Fair, the youngest artist to do so at the time.
At Arlington Square since 2014, Pierre Paul Design included picture framing, an art gallery, handmade gifts, and interior design services.
Related: Pierre Paul Moves
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