When the 4th biggest industry by revenue in the US is struggling, it's a bad sign. Rite Aid, the third-largest pharmacy chain, is laying off more than 1,000 employees across the company as it struggles to deal with the economic downturn.
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Rite Aid, despite being one of the major players in the game, has been on its knees for some time. They have recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This was the second time in two years they were forced to wave the white flag.
In this situation, they hope for some entity to buy them out and revitalize the company. However, all efforts have failed. As a result, Rite Aid is now being forced to close more than 1,000 stores and lay off over 1,000 staff.
Rite Aid's locations will be going up for auction later this month. However, the newly unemployed people will be let go in two waves. The first lot went earlier this month. The second group will be told to find a new job on June 4th.
According to a WARN, Rite Aid will be laying off 501 employees at a York County, Pennsylvania office and 595 employees at its Philadelphia office on Intrepid Avenue.
Rite Aid Ruin Reproduced
Rite Aid isn't the only pharmaceutical company in the US facing collapse. CVS and Walgreens are also staring down the bankruptcy barrel. Despite wholesale pharmaceuticals being a 1.4 billion dollar industry in the US, somehow, many popular stores are suffering.
Most are blaming this on the new way we shop as a society. More people are choosing to buy the items they would usually get from a Rite Aid online. Why go into a store when you can simply use Amazon to get it straight to your door?
The same goes for anything that could be grabbed from your local Rite Aid. But, I think it's just an easy scapegoat to blame the retail monopoly of places like Amazon and Walmart. Inflation is cripplingly high, and that doesn't just affect the buyer.
Stores are having to pay higher costs for everything from their goods to the electricity that keeps the lights on. As long as inflation keeps climbing and wages stay stagnant, this is going to become more and more common.
