14 Lexington Rite Aid stores transferred to new ownership

Fourteen Lexington Rite Aid stores have been transferred to Walgreens ownership as part of a nationwide acquisition by the drugstore giant.

Walgreens spokesman Jim Graham said in an e-mail that the purchase of the 1,932 Rite Aid shops would happen in two phases. First, ownership will be transferred in waves; customers may see signs on the door of their Rite-Aid announcing it as “Walgreens doing business as Rite Aid.”

A sign was visible this week at the store on Richmond Road.

After the 1,932 store purchases are completed, stores “will be converted to the Walgreens brand in phases over time,” Graham said.

“We anticipate the completion of the 1,932 store purchases in spring 2018.”

For now, Graham said, employees in the Lexington stores become Walgreens employees and operate a Walgreens pharmacy. The front of the store continues to operate temporarily as a Rite Aid store, with the external signage identifying it as a Rite Aid.

Walgreens said in September, 2017 that it would take over more than 1,900 Rite Aid drug stores. The deal allows the three biggest drugstore chains — CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid — to continue as independent entities, but makes Walgreens the nation’s largest by number of locations. Walgreens will have nearly 10,000 locations following the transition of acquired Rite Aid stores.

Rite Aid customers with questions about prescriptions, rewards prorams and coupons can get them answered on the Walgreens frequently asked questions page.

In Lexington, Rite Aid operates stores at Palomar Center, West Loudon Avenue, East High Street, Winchester Road, Versailles Road, Tates Creek Road, Richmond Road, South Broadway, Park Hills Shopping Center, Tates Creek Center, Executive Drive, Dylan Place, Polo Club Lane and Malabu Drive.

This story was originally published February 9, 2018 at 3:35 PM with the headline "14 Lexington Rite Aid stores transferred to new ownership."