The impending closure of the Carrollton Rite Aid will displace around 15 employees, Isle of Wight County Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin told the county’s Economic Development Authority at its May 20 meeting.

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections on May 5 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey seven months after emerging from its prior 2023 bankruptcy. Rite Aid’s latest filing states the national retailer plans to close or sell all of its remaining stores, including its sole remaining presence in Isle of Wight County at 13554 Carrollton Blvd.

Sutphin said no specific closing date had been announced as of May 20. No Rite Aids were listed as of May 21 on the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement’s database of WARN notices, which are required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act within 60 calendar days of a layoff only if it affects 50 or more employees and one-third or more of the total workforce at a single place of employment, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.

Sutphin said the Virginia Employment Commission’s Rapid Response Team, which assists soon-to-be displaced workers with finding and transitioning to new employment, is working with affected employees from multiple Rite Aid stores. The state agency also worked with the 379 employees affected when the Keurig Dr Pepper roasting plant on the outskirts of Windsor announced last summer it would close, though that closure didn’t occur until April 11 this year.

Rite Aid, in an unattributed statement to the Times, said over the next few months all remaining Rite Aid distribution centers will close and stores will either close or be operated by a new owner. Sutphin said the Carrollton store would be put up for lease.

According to a May 5 news release by the company, Rite Aid is in discussions with “multiple interested potential acquirors” (sic) in a process “supported by $1.94 billion in new financing commitments and facilitated through voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings.”  

The 11,000-square-foot Carrollton Rite Aid opened in 2017.

Rite Aid’s prior bankruptcy resulted in the closure of 17 stores across Hampton Roads, including its pharmacies and retail stores at 1200 Benns Church Blvd. in Smithfield and 1031 Armory Drive in Franklin. The Smithfield building has since been leased by Riverside Health System for use as a primary care facility.

That prior bankruptcy, according to a company news release, had eliminated roughly $2 billion of Rite Aid’s debt. According to the May 5 filing, Rite Aid still owes more than $381 million to at least 50 creditors, including $49 million owed to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The DOJ had announced an agreement with Rite Aid last year to settle claims under the federal False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act alleging the retailer “knowingly dispensed at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions” for “medically unnecessary” opioids, including addictive oxycodone and fentanyl, from 2014 through 2019.