RITE AID

Rite Aid’s efforts to convert the chain to the new Wellness store format have been running smoothly for a couple of years now, but it was this year that the chain reached two key milestones.

In May, the company announced that it had converted a majority of its stores in the Buffalo, N.Y., area to the format, for a total of nearly 100, marking the occasion with an event featuring John Standley, the company’s chairman and CEO, and Ken Martindale, the president and COO, as well as celebrity fitness expert Denise Austin.

NEW YORK — The drug store sector makes for a sound investment for investors of all stripes, according to a Motley Fool report published Thursday. 

In early morning trading Friday, CVS stock traded at $63.59, up 4 cents; Walgreens at $59.16, down 4 cents; and Rite Aid at $5.17, up 4 cents. 

Like any company looking to stage a turnaround, Rite Aid has employed multiple tactics to return to profitability and win back investors’ favor, but few of those programs have been as important to the chain’s efforts as its loyalty card program.

While it’s neither the first retail pharmacy loyalty program nor the largest, Wellness+ stands out as being the first to tie in specifically to the pharmacy — and that’s what has helped make it so successful.

NEW YORK — Rite Aid has stopped selling some cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine at its stores in West Virginia, according to published reports.

The Charleston, W.Va., Gazette reported that the chain would stop selling medicines that have pseudoephedrine as their only active ingredient, such as Sudafed 12 Hour and Sudafed 24 Hour, though they would continue selling products that combine pseudoephedrine with other ingredients like antihistamines and painkillers.

PALATINE, Ill. — Acura Pharmaceuticals on Monday announced that Nexafed, its next generation pseudoephedrine with abuse-deterrent technology, will now be stocked by Rite Aid.

Nexafed is a 30 mg immediate-release pseudoephedrine product that combines nasal-congestion relief with a unique technology that disrupts the conversion of pseudoephedrine into methamphetamine.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid's same-store sales increased by 2.1% this month compared with October 2012, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday, also issuing an estimate of the negative effects of Hurricane Sandy on its sales.

NEW YORK — Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money," is still bullish on Rite Aid.

In a segment of "Mad Money Lightning Round" Monday evening, Cramer said of Rite Aid's stock, "I want you to stick with it. They're making a big comeback."

Indeed, the Camp Hill, Pa.-based retail pharmacy chain's stock has been shooting up lately, trading at about $5.26 per share at midday Wednesday after opening at $5.20.

NEW YORK — The Skin Cancer Foundation’s annual Road to Healthy Skin Tour, presented by Rite Aid, has wrapped up its sixth cross-country journey, bringing free skin cancer screenings and prevention information to communities across America.

During this year’s tour, volunteer dermatologists detected 788 suspected pre-cancers and cancers, including 29 suspected melanomas.