Several Hall County Rite Aid stores are closing as part of a merger with longtime competitor Walgreens.
The pharmacy at the Rite Aid at 5915 Spout Springs Road in Flowery Branch is closing June 20. The store will remain open for about two weeks after the pharmacy closes to allow for the final sale of all products, Walgreens spokesman James Graham said.
Patient prescription records will be available at the Walgreens at 5963 Spout Springs Road once the pharmacy has closed, he said.
Rite Aid pharmacies at 599 S. Enota Dr. NE, Gainesville, and 3640 Mundy Mill Road, Oakwood, will close July 26. Patient prescription records at that Gainesville Rite Aid will be available at the Walgreens at 472 S. Enota Dr. NE, Gainesville, and records at the Oakwood Rite Aid will be available at the Walgreens at 3414 Mundy Mill Road.
As with the Flowery Branch store, those locations will remain open another two weeks for final sales, Graham said.
A frequently asked questions page about the transition has been set up on the Walgreens website.
“At all … of these store locations, 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,” Graham said. “We will be making every effort to find the same or similar positions for team members.”
When asked about the status of Rite Aid stores at 2925 Browns Bridge Road and 3320 Thompson Bridge Road, both in Gainesville, Graham said he had “no information … on those other stores.”
He did say that while Walgreens “will be closing some stores, we will also be investing in many communities through the process of converting other Walgreens-owned Rite Aid stores to the Walgreens brand. We plan to begin the conversion process later this year.”
Signs on all the Rite Aid stores, except the one in Flowery Branch, say, “This Rite Aid now has a Walgreens pharmacy.”
“We look forward to continue serving you at Walgreens,” a sign at the Flowery Branch Rite Aid store reads.
Rite Aid spokeswoman Ashley Flower declined to comment on the closings, referring questions to Walgreens officials.
The closings are part of “a careful and thorough review of our combined network to ensure we have the right stores in the right locations,” Graham said.
“We looked at many factors, including stores within a close proximity to other Walgreens or Walgreen-owned Rite Aid stores, to determine the best footprint to serve our customers and patients.”
Overall, Walgreens bought 1,932 Rite Aid stores. The drug store chain announced last October plans to close some 600 store locations.
In March, corporate officials for Rite Aid Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that Rite Aid had “completed the store transfer process” and that all of its stores and related assets had been transferred to Walgreens for $4.2 billion, a news release states.
The transfer of three distribution centers and related inventory is expected to begin after Sept. 1, according to the news release.
“The majority of the closing conditions have been satisfied, and the transfers of Rite Aid distribution centers and related assets remain subject to minimal customary closing conditions,” officials said.