Bartell Owner Rite-Aid Exits Bankruptcy

The owner of Seattle’s Bartell Drugs has exited bankruptcy with a plan to “rightsize” its store footprint.

Rite-Aid, which purchased the 134-year-old Seattle institution for $95 million almost four years ago, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last October after struggling for years. It has since closed about two dozen Bartell Drugs locations across the state.

Philadelphia-based Rite-Aid says it eliminated about $2 billion in debt during the bankruptcy process. Rite-Aid will now operate as a private company.

Rite-Aid also said in a press release that it would adopt a “more efficient operating model.”

Bartell’s was struggling even before the acquisition. Back in 2015, the family-owned chain hired the first non-family member as CEO. Three years later, it changed CEOs again.

Longtime customers and health care providers have complained of poor service and inventory shortages throughout stores and in pharmacies since the Rite Aid acquisition. Bartell’s was thought to be the nation’s oldest family-operated drugstore chain before its 2020 sale.