Posted by Forbes.com | Oct 7, 2020
Rite Aid agreed to acquire the Seattle-area family-owned drugstore chain Bartell Drugs for $95 million, seeking to add scale three years after the Camp Hill, Pa.-based company sold almost half its stores to Walgreens after a failed merger, leaving it in a weaker position in an industry that is consolidating.
- George D. Bartell, co-owner and chairman of the company his grandfather founded in 1890, told the Seattle Times the company believed the acquisition was the “only answer” because it was getting harder for local businesses to compete.
- Bartell Drugs has 67 stores in Washington state which will continue to operate under the same name, the companies said in a statement.
- Rite Aid has 2,500 retail pharmacy locations across 19 states.
- Rite Aid president and CEO Heyward Donigan told Seattle Times the company hopes to be “your local neighborhood pharmacy.”
- Rite Aid trended on Twitter following the announcement as some locals shared their disappointment.
The deal is expected to be finalized in December.
