The Old Rite Aid Store is Gone. Replaced by a CVS Outlet. But They Look Remarkably Similar! A Few Doors Down a new BECU Outlet is Going Up

You probably already noticed – like we have – that the old Rite Aid store in the Island Village Shopping Center – has been replaced by a new CVS Pharmacy outlet. Well, it’s not exactly new. It’s the same basic footprint, with different signage. The “new” CVS store is still in a remodeling phase before its official grand opening.

Truth be told, it has the same look and feel as the Rite Aid, with the pharmacy in the rear and most aisles and product offerings looking very similar to the previous occupant.

In case you were out of the loop – and this bit of news passed you by – CVS took over the operations of many Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs locations earlier this year that were closing in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Rite Aid, which had filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than two years, agreed to sell more than 1,000 of its stores to a group of competitors. That group includes CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, and Giant Eagle. The Pennsylvania-based pharmacy chain entered bankruptcy with more than $2 billion in debt, after poor performance in its retail business made it difficult for the company to maintain sufficient cash flow and restock its retail inventory, according to a story in Reuters.

“As we move forward, our key priorities are ensuring uninterrupted pharmacy services for our customers and preserving jobs for as many associates as possible,” Rite Aid CEO Matt Schroeder said in a previous press release.

Which Rite Aid stores in WA are closing?

Nine Rite Aid stores are closing in Washington across nine different cities.

Anacortes is losing its location at 1517 Commercial Avenue, while Ephrata is losing its 250 Basin Street store. The other Rite Aid stores affected are in Granite Falls (608 W. Stanley Street), Kingston (27000 Miller Bay Road N.E.), North Bend (248 Bendigo Boulevard), Omak (609 Omache Drive), Snoqualmie (35013 Snoqualmie Parkway), Yelm (909 E. Yelm Avenue), and, of course, our own Bainbridge Island location.

The Ephrata and North Bend locations are Bartell’s pharmacy stores.

Bartell, founded in 1890 in Seattle, was believed to be the nation’s oldest existing family-owned drugstore chain until it was sold to Rite Aid in 2020 for $95 million.

“So my local Bartell’s, which we have been customers of for years, closed down, and all of our information was shipped over to Rite Aid,” KIRO Newsradio host Spike O’Neill said of the decision while filling in for “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “They, in fact, took the entirety of the pharmacy department of our local Bartels, and there were some growing pains. Took a while to get things dialed in, but the same staff was there, and now the Rite Aid, which is our local convenient pharmacist and pharmacy, now they’re going away.”

Only California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania had more Rite Aid closures than Washington

Contributing: KIRO 7 , plus, My Northwest .com: https://mynorthwest.com/local/cvs-rite-aid-bartell-drugs-wa/4088489

BECU’s Bainbridge Island Branch Under Way just Across From the Safeway store 

Boeing Employees Credit Union will open a Neighborhood Financial Center in the Island Village Shopping Center, across from the Safeway Store, sometime early next year.

The 1,300-square-foot-branch office is located at 275 High School Road NE, in a space previously occupied by a number of different retail businesses over the years – including a shoe store. The new office – a few doors down from the Great Clips Hair Salon – will offer in-person and digital services, like Video Banking, to the credit union’s nearly 2,000 area members. The branch is BECU’s first location on Bainbridge Island—and the community’s only credit union outlet—with the nearest location 25 miles away in Silverdale. Kitsap Credit Union previously had a branch office on the island on Hildebrand Way, but it closed a number of years ago.

Despite not having a location on the island, BECU has hosted employee Purpose Workshops at IslandWood since 2023. The facility’s design, along with Bainbridge Island’s natural scenery, serves as an inspiring location for employees to connect and lean into the credit union’s community-centered purpose, the company said in a press statement. Additionally, BECU expects to hire six employees at each of its new locations – including another office in Duvall. Candidates interested in working at the credit union can apply online at BECU.org/careers. Employees receive a wide variety of benefits to promote financial health and general wellness

Read a previous story on BECU that appeared in The Island Wanderer: https://theislandwanderer.com/boeing-employees-credit-union-to-open-a-new-neighborhood-financial-center-on-bainbridge-island-later-this-year/

About BECU
BECU is federally insured by NCUA and an Equal Housing Opportunity Lender (Boeing Employees’ Credit Union NMLS ID 490518). With more than 1.5 million members and $29.4 billion in assets, BECU is the largest not-for-profit credit union in Washington and one of the top four financial cooperatives in the country. As a member-owned credit union, BECU is focused on helping increase the financial well-being of its members and communities through great rates, few fees, community partnerships and financial education. The credit union currently operates more than 60 financial centers, including two in South Carolina. For more information, visit www.becu.org.