Rite Aid planning to close store at Broad and Belvidere

The Rite Aid at 520 W. Broad St. is slated to close as the drugstore chain reduces its footprint during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Jack Jacobs photo)

Amid its ongoing bankruptcy, Rite Aid is shutting down a long-running outpost at a prominent city crossroads.

The drugstore chain’s location at 520 W. Broad St. in Richmond, which has operated for years at the corner of Broad and Belvidere streets, is slated to close.

A store employee said Thursday it was anticipated to remain open until the end of the month. The location’s pharmacy has already closed. Signage stated that prescription records held there would be available at the Kroger at 901 N. Lombardy St.

Kroger is among the companies, along with CVS and Walgreens, a judge last month approved to buy customer files from Rite Aid as part of the company’s ongoing bankruptcy process, Reuters reported.

Rite Aid announced plans to close the Richmond store alongside nearly 100 locations nationwide in a mid-May court filing. Also on that list was another local outpost – the Rite Aid at 2600 Weir Place off Route 1 in Chester.

A Rite Aid spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early May, following the company’s emergence from a bankruptcy last year. A news release stated that the company intended to sell “substantially all” its assets in its latest bankruptcy. The company said financial challenges caused by changes in the retail and healthcare sectors were factors in the bankruptcy.

The impending closure of the Rite Aid on Broad Street comes weeks after VCU acquired the property.

An entity tied to the university’s real estate foundation bought the Rite Aid property in a $4.7 million, multiparcel deal that also included surrounding parking lots, online records show.

What’s next for the property after Rite Aid’s exit is unclear. A university spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment for this report. Around the time of the acquisition, the university said it didn’t have specific plans for the site.

The purchase gave VCU complete ownership of the land at the Broad and Belvidere intersection. At the other corners are a rising $253 million arts and innovation center, VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art and a university dorm.

In other local drugstore moves, Walgreens closed its store at the corner of West Broad Street and Pouncey Tract Road in Henrico earlier this year.

The post Rite Aid planning to close store at Broad and Belvidere appeared first on Richmond BizSense.