Rite Aid closing stores across Michigan

Rite Aid plans to close at least 12 Michigan stores as a part of bankruptcy proceedings, but it could end up shuttering every store in the state.

A document filed Monday, June 17 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court lists 27 stores that will be closing throughout Michigan and Ohio. But Rite Aid also sent a statement Monday to MLive saying it made the “difficult but necessary business decision” to close all stores in Michigan, where it will exit the market, and nearly all stores in Ohio.

Rite Aid currently operates 186 stores throughout Michigan and 143 in Ohio.

“Most prescriptions and pharmacy inventory from impacted stores will be transferred to Walgreens,” the preliminary statement said.

Rite Aid then tried to recall the email with a spokesperson saying they needed to update the statement, but the company has since not responded.

Per court documents, these 12 stores are closing:

• Allen Park, 15411 Southfield Road
• Bay City, 3880 Wilder Road
• Burton, G4033 Fenton Road
• Burton, 6026 Lapeer Road
• Flint, 4519 Richfield Road
• Grosse Pointe Farms, 107 Kercheval Ave.
• Livonia, 37399 6 Mile Road
• Ludington, 936 East Ludington Ave.
• Marlette, 2985 Main Street
• Milford, 640 North Milford Road
• Spring Lake, 603 East Savidge Street
• Wyandotte, 1998 Biddle Ave.

Details about when the stores will shutter and how many employees will be affected were not immediately available.

Rite Aid declared bankruptcy in October 2023 as it faced slumping sales and a slew of opioid-related lawsuits. Since last fall, the pharmacy has reportedly closed more than 520 stores nationwide, including 19 already in Michigan.

In 2022, Rite Aid agreed to a $30 million settlement to resolve lawsuits that accused the pharmacy of contributing to the opioid crisis. Then in March 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint alleging Rite Aid knowingly filled “at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions” from May 2014 through June 2019.

Other pharmacy chains have reached multi-billion-dollar opioid settlements. CVS will pay up to $4.9 billion over a decade, Walgreens agreed to $5.52 billion over 15 years, Kroger will pay $11.4 billion over 11 years and Walmart paid $2.74 billion last year.

The DOJ reportedly agreed to a “brief pause” of its lawsuit after Rite Aid went bankrupt.

Rite Aid is also dealing with declining sales as the latest investor report shows its annual revenue dropped from $6 billion to $5.7 billion, a loss of $306.7 million from June 2022 to June 2023.