MENDOCINO CO., 5/12/25 – Rite Aid stores in Willits, Ukiah and Fort Bragg will close or change ownership in the next few months, as the struggling drugstore chain goes through another bankruptcy filing.
The company plans to sell customer prescription files, inventory and other assets as it closes distribution centers and unloads store locations. Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn’t buying new inventory so bare shelves are likely become more common.
“I think what we’ll progressively see is the stores will become more and more spartan,” said retail analyst Neil Saunders.
The company runs 1,245 stores in 15 states, according to its website.
Here’s what customers can expect next.
How long will stores remain open?
Rite Aid says a few months for most of its stores. All locations will eventually close or be sold to a new owner by the end of 2025.
Until then, customers will still be able to fill prescriptions, get immunizations and shop in the stores or online.
Rite Aid has said that it will stop issuing customer rewards points for purchases. It also will no longer honor gift cards or accept returns or exchanges starting next month.
The Mendocino Voice reached out to Rite Aid locations in Willits, Ukiah and Fort Bragg but did not receive a response on closure dates.
What will happen to my prescription records?
Rite Aid will try to sell them to another drugstore, grocer or retailer with a pharmacy. The company says it is working to put together a “smooth transfer” of customer prescriptions to other pharmacies.
But there’s no guarantee those files will wind up at a retailer near the location that is closing.
Prescription files can be valuable assets because they can connect the acquiring drugstore with a regular customer if that person sticks with the new store.
What are the pharmacy options in Mendocino County after Rite Aid closes?
There is still the possibility that the local Rite Aid locations will be acquired by another company. But other pharmacy options currently exist for those who want to transfer prescriptions.
In Fort Bragg, customers can patronize Safeway, CVS and Mendocino Coast Pharmacy which is locally owned.
Safeway, CVS, Walmart, Raleys, Costco, and Walgreens are available in Ukiah, as well as locally owned options like Myers. Adventist Health Ukiah Valley also has an onsite pharmacy.
Willits customers have the fewest options, with Safeway and Howard Memorial offering the only pharmacies in town once Rite Aid closes.
How did Rite Aid get to this point?
Philadelphia-based Rite Aid had been closing stores and struggling with losses for years before its first bankruptcy filing in 2023. The company says its “only viable path forward” is a return to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
The company said in letter to vendors that it has been hit with several financial challenges that have grown more intense.
Rite Aid and its competitors have been dealing with tighter profits on their prescriptions, increased theft, court settlements over opioid prescriptions and customers who are drifting to online shopping and discount retailers.
Walgreens, which has more than six times as many stores as Rite Aid, agreed in March to be acquired by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
CVS Health also has closed stores.
The Mendocino Voice’s Sarah Stierch contributed to this story.
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re: The Mendocino Voice reached out to Rite Aid locations in Willits, Ukiah and Fort Bragg but did not receive a response on closure dates. answer: We don’t know.
What else is going to close in Ukiah can’t anyone help these businesses another vacant building just sitting their. Sad .
If you want a business to stay open you have to shop there not Amazon
Micheals will be next their shelves are empty
ANOTHER reason to boycott Amazon WHENEVER possible! There are, indeed, times when there is no alternative. But look for alternatives!! There are more out there than you think!
It has been fairly evident that Rite Aide was going downhill by the increased amount of empty shelves and disappearance of products… My main concern is the pharmacy at this time …
This article says that Ukiah Valley Hospital has a pharmacy. I would like to correct that. Myer’s Pharmacy acts as the outpatient pharmacy at AHUV. The hospital pharmacy is inpatient only and handles strictly people in the E.R. and admitted for medical care on hospital grounds. They do not handle outpatient medications and prescriptions.
Mendocino Voice reporter, Sarah Stierch didn’t mention that in Ukiah, there are also pharmacies inside Walmart & Costco.
Also a correction is in order, Adventist Health Pharmacies (Ukiah Valley & Howard Memorial) are for in patient use only in Ukiah & Willits, CA.