It’s 2 p.m. on a Friday, and the line for the Waterworks Market District pharmacy is beginning to resemble a Kennywood queue. While customers grumble or greet acquaintances, a Giant Eagle staff member hands out snacks and bottles of water. All this because prescriptions usually filled at Rite Aid have been sent here following the announcement that the Philadelphia-based pharmacy chain would be closing all its stores after a second round of bankruptcy proceedings.
Giant Eagle is just one of the chains taking over the job of filling prescriptions for thousands of Greater Pittsburgh residents now without a local Rite Aid. Per conversations with those in line, the Waterworks Market District has taken over duties from Rite Aids that have already, or will soon, close in Morningside, Shaler, O’Hara, and Oakmont. Rite Aids closing in the South Hills and West End will soon leave swathes of Pittsburgh without a nearby pharmacy.
The Rite Aid bankruptcy saga is hardly new. Its growth fueled largely by acquisitions — older Pittsburghers will remember the company’s takeover of Eckerd pharmacies in the mid-2000s — the company struggled with anemic stock prices and the threat of bankruptcy as early as the 1990s. Even after becoming a juggernaut following the Eckerd deal, Rite Aid struggled with too much real estate and not enough profit, finally withdrawing from some markets and flirting with a Walgreens merger before a changing market and pricey opioid lawsuit settlements forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023.
It wasn’t enough. In May, Rite Aid announced it would be “pursuing a strategic and value-maximizing sale process for substantially all of its assets.” Its main focus, the company said, would be “facilitating smooth transfer of customer prescriptions.”
“While we have continued to face financial challenges, intensified by the rapidly evolving retail and healthcare landscapes in which we operate, we are encouraged by meaningful interest from a number of potential national and regional strategic acquirors,” Rite Aid CEO Matt Schroeder stated in the announcement. “As we move forward, our key priorities are ensuring uninterrupted pharmacy services for our customers and preserving jobs for as many associates as possible.”
Rite Aid customers are now seeing the closure of more than 700 stores nationwide. Pennsylvania had 494 Rite Aids in 2022. The first wave of closures in 2024 saw 80 stores shutter, and July saw more across the commonwealth, bringing the total at press time to 275.
That includes most stores in Pittsburgh. Closures in Lawrenceville and Manchester have sent locals scrambling. “I am really bummed that they are closing,” one Reddit user wrote. “I don’t drive, and this is my pharmacy.”
One Facebook user in Manchester noted a further wrinkle: “For those of us with UPMC insurance, remember that CVS isn’t in network,” a problem that may likewise apply to Walgreens. However, in a recent press release concerning the Rite Aid closures, UPMC listed CVS, including locations inside Target stores, as in-network, as well as Costco, Giant Eagle, and Walmart, but not Walgreens. Locally owned pharmacies also vary in which insurance coverage, if any, they accept.
Meanwhile, others online noted that, in Lawrenceville, at least, this is potentially the second time their pharmacy has relocated in as many years following the closure of the neighborhood’s Shop ’n Save pharmacy in 2024.
All of this is taking place in the county with the second-largest population of senior citizens in the country. According to AARP, nine in 10 senior citizens in the U.S. rely on prescription medication, and, as one recently released FDA study notes, they’re taking more medications than ever. The closures leave pharmacy deserts that disproportionately impact seniors and lower-income residents, and not everybody has the internet access often required for mail-order prescription services, which often come with their own set of issues, including substandard product.
In short, Rite Aid’s pharmacy services themselves may be uninterrupted per se, but the chain’s bankruptcy has certainly interrupted locals’ lives.
Rite Aid did not respond to email requests for comment.
Back at the Waterworks pharmacy, by 2:20 p.m., the line is nearly twice as long. Store associates bring up another case of bottled water while those waiting talk about where they went to high school or check their watches. It’s going to be another long day for the pharmacists and their customers.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2025.
