The big American pharmacy shakeout has claimed another casualty as another local favorite closes on the high street.
After 135 years in business, one of Washington’s most well-known pharmacy chains has shut down for good. After weeks of having too much inventory, they closed their last three stores last weekend.
The collapse comes amid a lot of troubles in the business, such Rite Aid going bankrupt and Walgreens and CVS closing hundreds of stores as people change their habits and money problems get worse.
The most recent victim is Bartell Drugs, a Seattle-based chain that is noted for being community-focused and having a local identity. Rite Aid bought it in 2020. It was founded in 1890. It had 67 stores at the time.
But both companies had a lot of problems over the years, and locations were steadily renamed or shut down until the last ones in Kirkland, Mill Creek, and Gig Harbor.
Molly Lavinter, who is 48 years old, told the Seattle Times that the closings marked the “end of an era.”
Lavinter remarked, “I grew up with Bartell’s,” as she stood outside the business in Gig Harbor, where the windows were decorated in yellow flags. This is like seeing my childhood slip away.
People in the Puget Sound area knew Bartell Drugs for its focus on the community, great customer service, and involvement in the community. It was well-known in the area and typically sold things made by local businesses and helped with local events.
Bartell Drugs, a regional pharmacy in Seattle, shuttered its last stores during the last weekend of operations.
In 1890, George H. Bartell Sr. built the first store in Seattle, Washington.
People thought that Bartell Drugs was the oldest pharmacy chain in the US that was still run by the same family.
At first, the chain’s money issues came on slowly, but suddenly they hit all at once.
Two months after Rite Aid filed for its second bankruptcy, CVS said it would buy 20 of the 34 Bartell locations that were still open in July.
During the summer, CVS changed the names of the stores that were chosen.
The 14 businesses that were still open had their pharmacies shut down, and their prescriptions were shifted to nearby CVS locations.
Teams came in to sell the last of the stock when the signs outside came down.
The drugstore’s shelves were devoid of the famed chocolates, wine, and presents that used to be there. Bargain seekers went down the aisles hunting for last-minute offers.
People believed that Bartell Drugs was the oldest pharmacy chain in the US that was still run by the same family (the store is seen in 1937).
The well-known Washington chain shuttered its last storefronts in 1965 after being in business for 135 years.
“We tried to stay local and quirky,” said John Lewis, 56, who used to be Bartell’s regional manager and food and drink buyer. On Friday, he stopped by the Mill Creek store to see an old coworker.
The closures didn’t surprise Bartell’s employees or customers at all. It was clear that things were getting worse after Rite Aid bought the chain a few years ago.
Rite Aid anticipated that buying Bartell would help with its own money troubles. The bigger pharmacy store brand promised to maintain Bartell’s unique business model.
But the outbreak made Rite Aid’s troubles much worse, turning them into a major disaster that hurt both companies permanently.
The first Rite Aid store opened in Pennsylvania in 1962, and right once it became one of the most popular stores in the country.
The company had over 5,000 locations in 2008, making it the third biggest drugstore in the US.
The chain had been having trouble for a long time before it went bankrupt in 2023.
At that time, the company had 2,100 stores and planned to close hundreds of them after acquiring $3.45 billion in new money to write a strategy for reorganizing.
George H. Bartell Sr. began the company in 1890.
People in the region knew about Bartell Drugs and often bought things from nearby stores and helped with events in the area.
Many pharmaceutical companies have said that a lot of their outlets may close in the US. In the picture, you can see a sign at a Rite Aid store in Michigan.
At initially, the approach worked: it got rid of $2 billion in debt and got $2.5 billion in exit financing.
But its attempts to reorganize kept falling apart, and by April of this year, Rite Aid was getting ready for its second bankruptcy.
Rite Aid isn’t the only huge drugstore that has had troubles. CVS has even had to shut down shops all throughout the country.
Earlier this year, the pharmacy chain, which has more than 9,000 stores in the US, indicated that 270 of them would close this year.
The company said in October of last year that it would close. Several states have had to close down, but Alabama, New York, Maryland, and Missouri have had the most.