Rite Aid plans additional store closures

Rite Aid, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October and has since shuttered hundreds of stores, filed a notice with the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J., this week listing another 17 stores that it plans to close.

The closures are in addition to a list of 30 locations announced last week, and several additional closures announced since the company issued an initial list of 154 store closures last year. The latest stores slated to be shuttered include six locations each in California and Pennsylvania, three in New York, and one each in New Jersey and Massachusetts.

The 30 locations announced last week included locations in California, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, and Ohio.

The company will be left with about 1,600 locations after the latest round of closures, according to local reports, down from about 2,100 stores across 17 states when it filed bankruptcy.

A spokesperson for Rite Aid could not be reached for comment.

A spokesperson for the retailer told Staten Island, N.Y.-based website SILive that the company continues to identify underperforming stores that it is closing to reduce its rent expenses and strengthen its overall financial performance. The company also said it had not yet confirmed any additional store closures.

Related:Rite Aid moves forward with bankruptcy restructuring

“Rite Aid regularly assesses its retail footprint to ensure we are operating efficiently while meeting the needs of our customers, communities, associates, and overall business,” the company told SILive.