By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
The Rite Aid drug store in East Syracuse will be closing permanently at the end of the month.
The store at 300 W. Manlius St., which the village’s Mayor Robert Tackman said had opened at least 15 years ago, shut down the operation of its pharmacy on Feb. 10.
The rest of the store will remain open until Tuesday, Feb. 25 to allow for the final sale of all products, some of which have been offered at half-off.
The Rite Aid on West Manlius Street was one of 1,932 bought by Walgreens as part of a purchase finalized in 2018.
“This location is very convenient to many of our residents that have a hard time traveling throughout the village and town,” Tackman said. “The closure will be a challenge.”
The mayor said there had been “a lot of support” from the community pushing for the Rite Aid to remain open, but the discontinuation of its service has been made a foregone conclusion.
The East Syracuse store is among a few Rite Aid locations in the area bought by Walgreens, like the one at ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt and the one that conducted business for about 40 years on South Salina Street, to face closure since June 2018.
“We are in the process of closing some store locations to help ensure we have the right stores in the right locations to create a more focused network of stores that can deliver the greatest value for our customers,” a Walgreens spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said other Rite Aid stores under the Illinois-based company’s ownership will be converted to the Walgreens brand as well.
According to the Walgreens representative, the company will make efforts to help current Rite Aid employees, referred to as “team members.”
“We are committed to taking care of our team members throughout this process and expect to have positions at other locations for the majority of store employees who are impacted,” the spokesperson said. “We will be making every effort to find the same or similar positions for team members.”
Patients who acquired their prescriptions at the pharmacy on West Manlius Street will be able to refill them at any Walgreens location nationwide or any Walgreens-owned Rite Aid location.
Patients’ prescription records will now be available at the Walgreens located at 6430 Kirkville Road in East Syracuse.
Any patients with further questions are encouraged to contact their pharmacists.
