Seattle loses another drug store as retailers flee city amid rising crime

Rite Aid is closing the location at 910 4th Avenue, across the street from the Central Library which has been plagued with crime. The library has been a focal point of homeless and drug activity for years.

The 133-year-old chain has already closed Bartell stores in the city's Lake Union, Chinatown-International District, Ballard, and University District this year. Like many other retailers in the Seattle area, the stores have been targets of crime leading to many owners deciding to close.

Rite Aid said in a statement to local media on Wednesday, "Like all retail businesses, we regularly review each of our locations to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers, communities and overall business."

"A decision to close a store is one we take very seriously and is based on a variety of factors including business strategy, lease and rent considerations, local business conditions and viability, and store performance. We review every neighborhood to ensure our customers will have access to health services, be it at Bartell Drugs or a nearby pharmacy, and we work to seamlessly transfer their prescriptions so there is no disruption of services.”

"We also strive to transfer associates to other Bartell Drugs or Rite Aid locations where possible."

The statement was similar to the ones it issued when closing other local locations.

Earlier this month, the chain closed its location in the South Lake Union neighborhood. In June the chain announced the closure of its Ballard location and did not give a reason. However, a 2020 survey of 88 businesses in the area, that included Bartell Drugs, cited crime, including shoplifting and assault, leading to financial losses and employees feeling unsafe.

In March 2019, the CEO of Bartell Drugs Kathi Lentzsch announced that the chain would not be opening any more stores in downtown Seattle due to theft and violent assaults on employees, noting that many competitors were facing the same issues in Seattle.

The chain closed its flagship downtown Seattle location in 2019 before its lease expired, stating that the cost of stolen items and hiring armed security had become too high.

In 2022, Bartell closed its location in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District. At the time there had been 491 cases of property crime, including 108 cases of burglary & 327 cases of larceny-theft in the area, according to the SPD crime dashboard.

Crime has continued to spike in Seattle in the wake of the defund the police movement by the city council. Almost 600 officers have been separated from the department, including close to 70 officers this year. Recent large events in the city have stretched the department well past its limits and the force is operating well below safe limits.

Additionally, homicides in the Emerald City increased 7 percent in the first half of 2023 and Seattle was one of 10 cities to report an increase, with a percent change greater than that of New York at 4.9 percent, even as other cities saw a decline during the same time frame.

According to Rite Aid spokesperson Alicja Wojczyk, Bartell’s parent company Rite Aid has shuttered close to 195 stores across 17 states since 2022.