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As Rite Aid seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, some industry watchers say the company's restructuring plans could be an opportunity for big strategy changes. Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy Sunday after being unable to resolve financial woes and opioid-related lawsuits. It has shuttered hundreds of stores in recent years and is expected to close more. Rite Aid also is selling pharmacy benefit manager Elixir Solutions to MedImpact, another PBM, for $575 million. (Hudson, 10/16)

The slow-motion collapse of Rite Aid threatens to eliminate the nation's third-largest drugstore chain. With about 2,100 stores and more than 45,000 employees — including 6,100+ pharmacists — Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, hoping to emerge as a sustainable enterprise. (Bomey, 10/16)

Drugstores have done the wrong thing over and over again, said Neil Saunders, the managing director at the consulting company GlobalData. The result is that people don't want to shop at them, and that has made lots of openings for competitors. ... "They've shot themselves in the foot, and now they're reaping the consequences of all those years of poor decisions and underinvestment.” ... "We're still going to have a physical pharmacy retail space, but it's going to be somewhat smaller than it has been traditionally," he said. (Jay, 10/17)

Drugstore chains for decades saturated US cities, suburbs and small towns with new stores. Now, they are closing thousands of stores, leaving gaps in communities for medicines and essentials. Researchers find pharmacy closures lead to health risks such as older adults failing to take medication. (Meyersohn, 10/17)