Sentinel staff report–
Shelves are already more than half empty at the Rite Aid on the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Arcadia Drive after the store announced it would be closing and began heavily discounted store-wide liquidation sales on June 17.
As of June 23, items observed still remaining in the store included several dozen wines, personal care and beauty items, sodas, candy, school supplies, DVDs and books. Other items include cereal, chocolates, storage bins, various light bulbs and batteries.
Rite Aid regional offices could not be reached for comment over the weekend, but an assistant manager at the Citrus Heights store told The Sentinel the location was slated for closure after the lease was not renewed due to “business reasons.” She also said store-wide discounts would be increasing to 75% off everything, beginning June 24, with plans for the store to close by July 1.
All items in the store are included in the steep liquidation discounts, with the exception of store fixtures and shelving which are available on a make-an-offer basis for those interested, according to the assistant manager.
The store is located at 7900 Arcadia Drive in Citrus Heights. A sign outside the store indicates that hours have been reduced to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Is the local closure related to the Walgreens move to acquire Rite Aid?
It does not appear to be related. Although Walgreens initially sought to acquire the entire Rite Aid drugstore chain in 2015, the company abandoned its plans last year after U.S. regulators raised antitrust concerns. In a deal that closed earlier this year, Walgreens instead purchased about 1,900 Rite Aid stores for a price tag of about $4.4 billion, leaving the remaining stores to possibly be acquired by Albertson’s in a $24 billion proposed merger that is slated to be voted on by stockholders in August, according to a report last week in Forbes.
The Walgreens acquisition has led to Rite Aid store closures in various parts of the country, after Walgreens announced that it would shutter about 600 stores — largely based on how close the stores were to existing Walgreens locations. Although the Citrus Heights Rite Aid store is located just a block away from the Walgreens at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane, the closure appears to be unrelated, as media reports have stated that stores acquired by Walgreens were largely in the south and northeast areas of the country.
