Bartell Drugs enters uncertain chapter as Rite Aid exits bankruptcy

Like a hopeful patient emerging from an extended surgery, Rite Aid formally exited bankruptcy last Tuesday with less debt, fewer stores and a court-approved plan, dubbed Rite Aid 2.0, to get back to financial health. Still, it’s far from clear what this corporate do-over means for shoppers and workers at Rite Aid’s approximately 1,500 stores. In Washington, that includes 98 Rite Aid stores and 40 locations of Bartell Drugs, the 135-year-old Seattle institution that Rite Aid bought in 2020. Encouragingly, Rite Aid’s exit from the bankruptcy process that it began...