If you’ve driven past the corner of Broad and Belvidere lately, you’ve probably noticed something is missing. That familiar red-and-blue sign is gone. For years, the Richmond VA Rite Aid at 520 West Broad Street was a staple for VCU students and downtown commuters. Now, it's just an empty shell. Honestly, the story behind why our local drugstores are vanishing is a lot more complicated than just "Amazon took over." It's a mix of billion-dollar lawsuits, massive corporate debt, and a messy bankruptcy that finally hit its breaking point in late 2025.
By October 2025, the news was official: Rite Aid was closing all of its remaining stores nationwide. Richmond felt the sting particularly hard. We didn’t just lose the Broad Street location; the spots in Chester and North Chesterfield were also caught in the crosshairs.
The Slow Collapse of a Richmond Institution
It wasn't a sudden death. It was a slow bleed.
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Rite Aid actually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice in a very short span. The first time was back in October 2023. At that point, they were drowning in nearly $4 billion of debt and facing a mountain of lawsuits related to the opioid crisis. They emerged in 2024 as a private company, and for a second, it looked like they might pull through. But the retail landscape changed too fast.
By May 2025, the company threw in the towel and filed for bankruptcy again. This time, the goal wasn't to restructure. It was to liquidate.
Why Broad and Belvidere Mattered
That specific Richmond VA Rite Aid was more than just a place to grab a Gatorade. It was a primary pharmacy for a huge chunk of the downtown population who don't have cars. When it closed its doors in June 2025, it left a "pharmacy desert" in its wake. Local residents now have to trek over a mile to the Kroger on Lombardy just to pick up a prescription.
VCU actually stepped in and bought that property for about $4.7 million. While they haven't said exactly what's going to happen there, the parking lots and the building itself are now part of the university's growing footprint.
Where Did Your Prescriptions Go?
One of the most stressful parts of the Richmond VA Rite Aid closures was the "prescription shuffle." If you were a regular at the Hull Street or Broad Street locations, your medical records didn't just vanish into thin air, but they did move without much warning.
- Kroger Pharmacy: Many files from the downtown location were transferred to the Kroger at 901 N. Lombardy St.
- Walgreens & CVS: These two giants basically scavenged the remains. They bought up customer lists in bulk to ensure people didn't go elsewhere.
- Independent Options: Some locals jumped ship entirely, moving to spots like Westwood Pharmacy on Patterson or Lafayette Pharmacy to avoid the big-chain chaos.
If you still haven't tracked down an old prescription, you can actually still access the Rite Aid website to request your records. They’re keeping a digital skeleton crew to handle the legal requirements of medical data, even though the physical stores are history.
The Numbers That Killed the Chain
It’s easy to blame "the economy," but Rite Aid’s failure was a specific kind of disaster. At its peak, the company had over 5,000 stores. By the time the final 2025 bankruptcy hit, they were down to about 1,240.
The profit margins on prescriptions have been getting squeezed for years. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) basically dictate how much a pharmacy gets paid for a drug, and lately, those payouts have been lower than the cost of the drug itself. Add in the rise of theft in urban centers and the fact that most people buy their dish soap and snacks at Target or online, and the math just stops working.
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What Richmonders Are Doing Now
The loss of the Richmond VA Rite Aid locations has forced a lot of us to change our habits. It’s kinda weird not having that mid-tier option between a massive grocery store and a tiny boutique pharmacy.
Most people have shifted to Walgreens on Chamberlayne or the CVS on Main Street. But those stores are feeling the pressure too. You’ve probably noticed the lines are longer. That’s because those pharmacies are now absorbing thousands of new patients from the closed Rite Aids without necessarily hiring more staff.
Actionable Steps for Former Customers
If you're still dealing with the fallout of your local store closing, here is exactly what you should do:
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- Verify your records: Check the Rite Aid "Pharmacy Records" portal online. Even if your store is a ghost town, your data is legally required to be accessible.
- Check for "Zombie" accounts: If you had a Rite Aid Rewards account, those points are officially dead. They stopped honoring gift cards and rewards back in June 2025. Don't bother trying to use them.
- Audit your insurance: Some insurance plans had "preferred" status with Rite Aid. Now that they're gone, you might actually save money by switching to a different network. Call your provider and ask which Richmond pharmacy currently offers the lowest co-pay.
- Look local: Richmond has some incredible independent pharmacies that actually answer the phone. If you're tired of the 20-minute hold times at the big chains, check out spots in the Fan or Near West End.
The era of the Richmond VA Rite Aid is officially over. It’s a bummer, especially for the folks who worked there for decades. But the "Pharmacy Wars" in RVA are still going strong—just with fewer players on the field.