On Aug. 12, the pharmacy chain Rite Aid announced that it was closing its Chester Avenue location, located near Case Western Reserve University’s Health Education Campus, at the end of September. The location’s closing, while otherwise a small inconvenience for gathering prescription medication, reclasses a much larger problem affecting CWRU students—the lack of convenient stores.
A Rite Aid spokesperson said, “Prescriptions will be seamlessly transferred to Walgreens to ensure no disruption of service. We are fully committed to helping our customers make the transition to their new pharmacy, and we will operate our normal pharmacy operations up to and including our last day of business at these stores to ensure continuity of care so that our customers can refill any coming-due prescriptions.”
As a result of the planned closure, many items currently there are on clearance. Fourth-year student Hannah Shindler said, “I got $70 worth of stuff for only $40.”
The closure of Chester Avenue’s Rite Aid follows a trend of the Rite Aid corporation closing all of its Ohio-based locations following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which requires the company to restructure in order to maintain a semblance of operations.
The corporation originally declared bankruptcy in October 2023 and secured a Chapter 11 restructuring bankruptcy deal on June 28. On July 30, the corporation announced that it was closing its Chester Avenue location. As of August, only four locations remain in the state.
Despite the controversies surrounding its corporate business, many students are fond of its University Circle location. “I love Rite Aid,” one fourth-year student said.
With the closing of this Rite Aid location, many students feel that they will have fewer options for where they can buy healthcare products. In terms of pharmacies, there are two locations close by: the CVS on Euclid Avenue and the Walgreens past Coventry Village. These are both roughly two miles away from campus. The nearest walkable location that has such facilities available is the Meijer on East 105th, which has personal care and healthcare aisles that sell many of the basic items.
Another nearby pharmacy, a CVS in Shaker Square, is also closing. Ify Chidi, a third-year student, noted that this location is giving away everything, even the cork boards used in the store.
In the meantime, Rite Aid has already transitioned its prescriptions to the Walgreens nearby. University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS) also maintains a website of nearby places to collect prescription medication.
One fourth-year student remarked that the closing of the two nearby pharmacies “is like Dave’s all over again.” This is a reference to the closing of the Dave’s Market Cedar-Fairmount location in fall of 2022. The closings of pharmacies and grocery stores greatly distort what many city leaders are promising: that Cleveland can become a 15-minute city, or a city where day-to-day necessities can be filled with a 15-minute walk, bike ride, or transit trip. The change to this 15-minute city comes from a variety of changes made on the municipal level, from transportation demand legislation to a revitalized zoning code that was originally written in the 1920s.
While the impact on students filling prescription medication will be minimal, it means many essential services, such as procuring over-the-counter medication or getting vaccines, will become more challenging.
“The decision to close a store is not one we take lightly. We carefully consider various factors in our decision-making, including our overall business strategy. While we have had to make difficult business decisions over the past several months to improve our business and optimize our retail footprint, we are committed to becoming financially and operationally healthy,” Rite Aid ended its statement.