The big American pharmacy shakeout has claimed another casualty as a popular business in the area closes on the high street.
After 135 years in business, one of Washington’s most recognized pharmacy chains has closed for good. After weeks of inventory blowouts, they closed their last three stores last weekend.
The decrease comes after a lot of troubles in the business. Big companies like Rite Aid went bankrupt, and Walgreens and CVS closed hundreds of stores as customers changed their habits and money problems got worse.
Bartell Drugs, a Seattle-based chain noted for being local and community-focused, is the most recent victim. It was started in 1890 and Rite Aid bought it in 2020. It had 67 stores back then.
But both companies had a lot of problems over the years, and stores were slowly rebranded or closed until the last ones in Kirkland, Mill Creek, and Gig Harbor.
Molly Lavinter, 48, told the Seattle Times that the closings marked the “end of an era.”
“I grew up with Bartell’s,” Lavinter said as she stood outside the store in Gig Harbor, where the windows were wrapped in yellow flags. This is like seeing my childhood go away.
People in the Puget Sound area knew Bartell Drugs for its commitment to the community, great customer service, and involvement in the community. It was well-known in the area and typically sold things from local businesses and helped with local events.
Bartell Drugs, a regional pharmacy based in Seattle, shuttered its last stores during the last weekend of operations.
George H. Bartell Sr. built the first business in Seattle, Washington, in 1890.
People assumed Bartell Drugs was the oldest family-owned drugstore chain in the US.
At first, the chain’s money issues came on slowly, but suddenly they all came at once.
Two months after Rite Aid filed for its second bankruptcy, CVS said in July that it would buy 20 of the 34 Bartell locations that were still open.
During the summer, CVS changed the names of the stores that were set aside for it.
The 14 businesses that were left had to close their pharmacies and relocate their prescriptions to CVS outlets nearby.
People came in to sell the last of the stock when the signs outside came down.
The famed chocolates, champagne, and gifts that used to be on the drugstore’s shelves were gone when bargain seekers walked down the aisles looking for last-minute buys.
People said that Bartell Drugs was the oldest family-owned drugstore chain in the US. The store is shown in 1937.
The well-known Washington chain, which had been around for 135 years, shut down its last stores in 1965.
“We tried to stay local and quirky,” said John Lewis, 56, who used to be Bartell’s regional manager and food and beverage buyer. He stopped by the Mill Creek store on Friday to visit an old coworker.
The closures were not at all surprising to Bartell’s employees and customers. It was clear that things were getting worse after Rite Aid bought the chain years ago.
Rite Aid assumed that buying Bartell would help its own money troubles, and the bigger pharmacy store brand promised to maintain Bartell’s unique business model.
But the epidemic made Rite Aid’s issues far worse, and both brands were permanently hurt.
In 1962, the first Rite Aid store opened in Pennsylvania. Right away, the store became one of the most popular in the country.
The company had more than 5,000 locations in 2008, making it the third-largest drugstore in the US.
The chain had been having a rough time for a long time before it went bankrupt in 2023.
The company had 2,100 sites at the time, and it planned to close hundreds of them after acquiring $3.45 billion in new funds to write a strategy for how to reorganize.
The firm was formed by George H. Bartell Sr. in 1890.
Bartell Drugs was a well-known store in the neighborhood that often sold things from other stores and helped with local events.
Several pharmaceutical companies have said that a lot of their outlets would close in the US. The picture depicts a sign at a Rite Aid store in Michigan.
The plan worked at first, collecting $2.5 billion in exit financing and lowering the debt by $2 billion.
But its attempts to reorganize kept failing, and by April of this year, Rite Aid was getting ready for its second bankruptcy.
It’s not just Rite Aid that has experienced troubles. CVS has had to close stores all over the country.
The drugstore chain, which had over 9,000 locations in the US, warned earlier this year that 270 of them would close this year.
Last October, the company first said that the stores will close. Several states have been closing down, but Alabama, New York, Maryland, and Missouri have had the most of them.
