- Rite-Aid, facing financial difficulties, has filed for bankruptcy and may close all its California stores.
With the possibility of pharmacy-based Rite-Aid closing due to financial challenges, customers wonder about the fate of medical prescriptions and the future of Thrifty Ice Cream in the High Desert.
Every store in California could be shuttered, or resold after Rite-Aid, earlier this month, filed for bankruptcy for a second time, with the thought of auctioning off most of its nationwide locations, USA Today reported.
Based in Philadelphia, the chain has already closed hundreds of sites over the past year, and court documents show plans for a complete shutdown of its once popular drug store empire.
Rite-Aid executives stated they have nearly 1,240 stores in 15 states, with 347 in California.
In the High Desert, Rite-Aid is located in Apple Valley, two stores in Victorville, two in Hesperia and single stores in Phelan and Barstow.
In January 2024, one Rite-Aid in Apple Valley was permanently shuttered, the Daily Press reported.
"For more than 60 years, Rite Aid has been a proud provider of pharmacy services and products to our loyal customers,” Rite Aid CEO Matt Schroeder said in a statement. “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. As we move forward, our key priorities are ensuring uninterrupted pharmacy services for our customers and preserving jobs for as many associates as possible."
What to know about your Rite-Aid prescriptions
According to court records obtained by USA Today, A&G Real Estate Partners stated they anticipate auctions for Rite-Aid locations to begin around May.
Rite-Aid said they are working to put together a “smooth transfer” of customer prescriptions to other pharmacies, however, there is no guarantee those prescription files will wind up at a retailer near the location that may close.
Customers can find their nearest Walgreens location and transfer prescriptions by visiting Walgreens.com/transferRX. They can also call 833-961-1642 for assistance.
Thrifty Ice Cream
Since Thrifty Ice Cream is a sole asset from Rite-Aid, the brand may continue with containers of the popular ice cream continuing to be sold in stores like Vons, El Super, Albertsons, Vallarta Supermarket, Superior Grocers and Cardenas Markets.
If purchased, some stores may continue to have Thrifty Ice Cream counters.
“As kids, our parents would take us to Thrifty in the Victor Plaza to buy ice cream,” Victorville resident Audrey Miller told the Daily Press. “I’d always get a single scoop of rocky road and a scoop of strawberry.”
In 1929, brothers Harry and Robert Borun opened a Thrifty Cut-Rate drug store in downtown Los Angeles that included a soda shop which used ice cream purchased from multiple vendors.
In 1940, the brothers bought the Borden Ice Cream factory in Hollywood to produce and serve their own ice cream at its flagship Thrifty Drug Store in downtown Los Angeles, company officials said.
About a decade later, employees used cylinder-shaped stainless steel scoops to serve their ice cream.
The high-quality, small-batch-made ice cream garnered a wave of attention in 1948 when it won the gold medal at the Los Angeles County Fair and California State Fair, the company stated.
By the 1970s, Thrifty Ice Cream had attained cult status along the West Coast, with significant celebrity endorsements. In 1976, the ice cream company moved to a larger facility in El Monte, its current location.
Over the decades, the ownership of Thrifty has changed hands several times, but it has still sold the ice cream brand.
In 1996, Rite-Aid bought the company and continued to serve Thrifty Ice Cream by the scoop and container.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
