Which Rite Aid stores were bought by CVS? As locations close, some landlords object to secretive bidding

Countless Rite Aid customers and employees are still waiting to learn the fate of their local pharmacies as the bankrupt drugstore chain sells off its assets and winds down operations. Now, at least three Rite Aid landlords are asking for more transparency into the process.

Last week, Rite Aid announced that it has reached agreements to sell its prescription files for most of its 1,200 retail pharmacies, with successful bidders including CVS, Walgreens, and Albertsons, among others. Perhaps most notably, CVS agreed to buy prescription files for 625 of those pharmacies, even as it said it would only take over 64 physical Rite Aid locations in three states: Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

However, neither Rite Aid nor CVS has said which pharmacy locations were involved in the bid.

Now three landlords—HVP2 LLC, New Hartford Holdings LLC, and Gallashea Properties LLC—have filed a limited objection to the asset sales on the grounds that they have no idea if their own leases were included, according to a court filing earlier this week.

“Conspicuously absent from the notice is any particular and critical information regarding who bought what and for how much?” the filing states.

Privacy concerns as prescription data changes hands

The landlords say they are not seeking the disclosure of sensitive customer data, which carries special privacy and regulatory considerations when prescription files are transferred from one company to another. Rather, they just want to know which Rite Aid locations were successfully bid upon, saying a more transparent process might allow them to secure better deals for their leases.

Reached for comment by Fast Company, a spokesperson for CVS said store specific information has not yet been released but offered no timeline for when that might happen—other than to say more details will be released following a hearing on the sale. The company did not respond to a question about the landlords’ objection.

“We’re working closely with Rite Aid on plans to ensure that the transition will be seamless for patients and customers and access to pharmacy care is not interrupted,” the spokesperson said.

CVS is already the country’s largest pharmacy chain, with its pharmacy unit generating $124.5 billion in revenue and filling 1.7 billion prescriptions last year.

A Rite Aid spokesperson told Fast Company that the sale of its assets to CVS and other pharmacies “will be implemented on a rolling basis and will take some time.”

The spokesperson emphasized that Rite Aid pharmacies will remain open during this process, but court documents show the company is already planning to close more than 200 locations, as Fast Company previously reported.

Plenty of anxiety to go around

All Rite Aid locations will eventually either close or be sold to other companies. An auction for the bankrupt company’s remaining assets is planned for June.

In the meantime, landlords aren’t the only one impacted by the uncertainty. On Reddit and other online forums, Rite Aid employees have expressed no shortage of frustration about not knowing the fate of their local stores.

The CVS spokesperson told Fast Company that once the sale is finalized, “we look forward to welcoming Rite Aid colleagues who are interested in applying to join the CVS team.”

For their part, the landlords have asked as part of their objection that Rite Aid disclose the “specific identities” of companies that successfully bid on its assets, along with which specific assets they won and how much they paid. Fast Company has reached out to the landlords’ lawyer for an update.

The sale of Rite Aid’s assets is still subject to court approval, with a hearing scheduled for today.

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