WEST LEBANON — This month’s announcement that Rite Aid, the national pharmacy chain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections has hit home with its Upper Valley customers, especially those who reside in communities where Rite Aid is the only drugstore in town.

In the coming months, the company plans to sell or close all of its 1,245 stores, including those in Bethel, Claremont, Randolph, Newport, West Lebanon and Windsor. 

In Windsor, the Rite Aid pharmacy is a 5-minute drive from the town’s Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center. 

“Rite Aid’s closure will impact our community and surrounding areas and will compound the challenges of access to care, especially for those who may lack reliable transportation,” Matthew Foster, the hospital’s president, said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“With the next closest retail pharmacy being about 20 minutes away, this closure will add a notable barrier to timely access,” Foster added. 

Nationally, Rite Aid is scrambling to find ways to help its pharmacy customers. 

On Wednesday, the U.S Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey approved the sale of Rite Aid’s pharmacy assets, including prescription files, to CVS, Walgreens and other pharmacies. 

CVS has agreed to acquire 64 Rite Aid locations across the country, Reuters reported on Wednesday. 

It’s unclear how the sale will help residents in Windsor and Bethel. 

“It’s really sad and annoying,” Hartland resident Sally Rumsey said on Wednesday after picking up her medication at the Rite Aid in Windsor. “Why can’t we have a pharmacy?” 

Rumsey, who makes bi-weekly trips to the Windsor Rite Aid to collect prescriptions for herself and her children, said she appreciates that the pharmacy is only 10 minutes from her house. 

If the pharmacy shutters, she would likely switch to the CVS in West Lebanon, which would add time to her trip. 

Windsor resident Pam Cooper said the Rite Aid’s central location on Main Street made it easier to pick up blood pressure and heart medication for herself and her husband during the cooler months when the roads can be hazardous. 

“I don’t drive much in the winter,” she said.

But if a new pharmacy doesn’t open in Rite Aid’s place, she’ll be forced to search for a pharmacy farther afield. 

The downtown Windsor Rite Aid is just a couple doors down from the Historic Homes of Runnemede, an assisted living facility, and a 10-minute drive from Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community. 

Cooper, who used to work at Runnemede, said she remembers that, along with prescriptions, residents would purchase over the counter products at Rite Aid. They “came for a lot of things,” she said. 

The shuttering of the Bethel Rite Aid would create a similar access problem for town residents, as well as those living in neighboring towns without pharmacies of their own. 

“It’s going to be really hard finding a new local pharmacy,” said South Royalton resident April Carr, who’d made a stop at the Bethel Rite Aid on Tuesday evening. 

The shuttering of Rite Aid locations follows a number of other Upper Valley pharmacy closures in recent years. In 2019, the independent Family Pharmacy in Enfield closed its doors after 33 years in business, followed by Chelsea’s only pharmacy a couple months later.

Rite Aid’s recent announcement marks the second time the company has declared bankruptcy. In 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to declining sales and a slew of lawsuits claiming the company illegally prescribed painkillers. 

Rite Aid isn’t the only national pharmacy chain facing challenges. Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that CVS and Walgreens have been contending with “tighter profits on their prescriptions, increased theft, court settlements over opioid prescriptions and customers who are drifting to online shopping and discount retailers.” 

In the past few years, Walgreens and CVS have shuttered hundreds of stores nationwide. 

Whether new pharmacies replace the shuttering Rite Aids in the Upper Valley remains to be seen. 

In the meantime, the change is causing some consternation for customers. White River Junction resident Ken Hendrick is among those who might soon need to find a new pharmacy. 

For more than a decade, Hendrick has been using the West Lebanon Rite Aid as his pharmacy. Over the years, he’s built a rapport with the pharmacists who fill his prescriptions. 

“They treat me very well,”  he said in an interview outside the store on Tuesday. 

Recently,  he’s been making almost weekly trips to pick up medication for a number of ailments including hypertension and two blood infections. 

The news that he might need to make a change has hit him hard.

“It’s such a blow,” Hendrick said as he headed inside to pick up his prescription. 

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.