Tarentum Rite Aid to close doors Feb. 28
The Rite Aid in Tarentum will be closing.
The pharmacy, at 411 Corbet St., will close Feb. 28, Rite Aid spokeswoman Ashley Flower said Wednesday.
It will reopen for a brief liquidation sale expected to run into March, she said.
“We have made the decision to close the Tarentum store due to performance,” Flower said.
“I think it's very sad,” shopper Carole Caligiuri of Harrison said as she left the store Wednesday carrying a few bags. “Tarentum needs something. This store is convenient for a lot of people.
“It's a shame, it really is.”
Flower said prescriptions will be automatically transferred to the Rite Aid at 1520 Freeport Road in Harrison.
“Our patients don't have to do anything and will be served at this location just as they are in Tarentum,” she said.
The store's employees will be placed at other Rite Aid locations in the area, Flower said.
Tarentum Mayor Eric Carter said he had just heard a rumor of the store's closing Wednesday morning.
The location had been a Thrift Drug, then Eckerd, before going under the Rite Aid name.
“It's been a staple in the community for a long time,” he said. “It's a shame, but it's happening everywhere.”
The loss of the pharmacy will most hurt borough residents unable to travel to other stores and relied upon it, he said.
“It served me in a pinch as well, instead of running all the way across the bridge,” Carter said.
Matt Sokolowski lives a couple of blocks away on Second Avenue. He said he goes to the store several times a week for snacks. He hadn't heard it was closing.
“It's a shame, I think,” he said. “I'll probably go across the bridge, maybe to Giant Eagle. It's just, like, an inconvenience.”
Flower said Rite Aid will work to market the property for new tenants.
“On the positive side, it's a nice piece of property there,” Carter said. “It could be attractive to a potential business owner that might have something to offer to the borough residents.”
Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BCRittmeyer.
