Grocery chain snaps up remaining Rite Aid locations. Changes afoot for Washington stores

Albertsons’ latest business proposal means your local Rite Aid will eventually see a new name and re-branding.

The grocery chain has stepped up to pick up the remaining Rite Aid storefronts not already involved in its $4.3 billion sale of nearly 2,000 stores to Walgreens, a deal struck after the companies failed to complete an even larger transaction in 2015.

The latest deal, announced Tuesday (Feb. 20), means Albertsons is acquiring 2,500 Rite Aid stores not involved in the Walgreens deal. The price of the Albertsons’ transaction was not disclosed.

The deal includes Rite Aid sites in Washington state.

Ashley Flower, media representative for Rite Aid, told The News Tribune via email, “None of our 139 stores in Washington state are part of our transaction with Walgreens.”

The new, combined company will be renamed and operate more than 4,000 pharmacies (in store and standalone) and 320 clinics across 38 states and Washington, D.C.

The acquisition appears to be another move in the re-invention of grocery stores and where they choose to invest. As competition heats up with e-retailers such as Amazon, store experiences become more important.

“We have always put our customers first, and our combination with Rite Aid will enable us to even better serve the valuable pharmacy customer by providing a fully integrated one-stop-shop for our customers’ food, health, and wellness needs,” said Bob Miller, Albertsons chairman and CEO, in Tuesday’s announcement.

The deal is expected to close later this year.

News services contributed to this report.

This story was originally published February 20, 2018 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Grocery chain snaps up remaining Rite Aid locations. Changes afoot for Washington stores."