The Hits Keep on Coming for Bartell Drugs

The last few times I was at Bartell Drugs, it was a sad sight.

This was several months ago. Entire aisles were barren at both the Queen Anne and Ballard locations. Now, as the University Village Bartell Drugs is set to close late next month, I have to wonder what the future holds for a company that once helped define Seattle.

The U-Village Bartell’s is generally considered the chain’s flagship store. Media reports indicate that University Village plans to convert the store into two separate restaurant spaces. Its last day will be Jan. 23.

Things have been rough for the chain for at least a decade. Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid bought Bartell’s for $95 million a little more than four years ago, but increasingly struggled itself, and last September exited bankruptcy with a vow to become a “more efficient” company.

Rite Aid has closed at least a couple dozen Bartell Drug locations the past several years. 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.

Bartell’s’ future is clearly in doubt. Sure, it’s just a drugstore, but it already seems as if something important to Seattle’s history has been lost.