RITE AID


When Rite Aid chairman Mary Sammons accepted the Sheldon W. Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., in May, it was the culmination of a career that had seen Rite Aid emerge from a period of darkness that had lasted more than a decade.


Sammons plans to stay on as chairman of Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid until the company’s annual meeting in June 2012. But when she does hang up the gloves, she will have a lot to look back on.


CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is offering specials on back-to-school items for the upcoming shopping season, the retail pharmacy chain said Monday.

The National Retail Federation predicted that the weak economy will drive many shoppers to seek items on sale, and 1-in-5 shoppers will look for items at the local drug store. Weekly specials will be featured in circulars during the season, and Rite Aid stores situated near college campuses will carry extra items for students living in dorm rooms.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — If the rumors that surfaced last week about Walmart eyeing Rite Aid for a possible buyout turn out to be true, it would be one of the biggest stories of the year: Walmart would acquire the country’s third-largest drug store chain and more than double its U.S. store count.

(THE NEWS: Report: Walmart may be eyeing Rite Aid. For the full story, click here)


With its latest string of initiatives designed to bring it out of a slump that lasted more than a decade, Rite Aid is aiming for “wellness” to do for it what the lower-case “i” did for Apple.


First, there was the wellness+ loyalty card program. Then, there was the wellness store format, with its team of Wellness Ambassadors. “This new format is all about empowering our customers in their pursuit of wellness,” president and CEO John Standley said in the company’s first quarter 2012 earnings call on June 23.



The 19th century British writer William Hickson may have written, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again,” but he only had half the story. By all means, try again, but don’t do the same thing over and over and expect different results.


NEW YORK — Rumors have been circulating that Walmart may be out to buy Rite Aid, though nothing has been confirmed yet, according to published reports.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is launching new flavors of its private-label Thrifty Ice Cream in California stores, the retail pharmacy chain said Wednesday.

The launch comes ahead of National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, which President Ronald Reagan launched in 1984.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid announced Thursday changes in its human resources and operations departments.

The 4,700-store chain named Brian Fiala as EVP human resources and Robert Thompson as EVP store operations. Rite Aid also appointed Bill Romine as SVP of the chain’s Western division.

Fiala previously served as EVP store operations, having joined the company in 2007 after working for 24 years at Target. He replaces Steve Parsons, who is leaving the company to take another position, and will report to president and CEO John Standley.