Seattle loses last 24-hour drug store amid rising retail theft

Bartell Drugs announced last week that it will be closing its location in Lower Queen Anne on Sept. 10. The 133-year-old chain has already closed five other stores in Ballard, the Chinatown-International District, Downtown, the University District, and South Lake Union.

Rite Aid, which purchased Bartell Drugs for $95 million in 2020, issued a statement similar to the ones published when the other branches closed. "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."

A 2020 survey of 88 businesses in the Ballard neighborhood that included Bartell Drugs, cited crime, including shoplifting and assault, leading to financial losses and employees feeling unsafe.

In 2019, Kathi Lentzsch, CEO of Bartell Drugs announced that the chain would not be opening any more stores in downtown Seattle due to theft and violent assaults on employees, adding that many competitors were facing the same issues in the city. That same year, the chain closed its flagship downtown Seattle location before its lease expired, citing the cost of stolen items and hiring armed security.

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

Over the weekend, Seattle blew past 50 homicides and is on track to surpass the record high from the 1990s. Homicides increased 7 percent in the first half of 2023. Seattle was one of 10 cities to report an increase, even as other cities saw a decline during the same time frame.

Crime has continued to spike in the Emerald City following the city council defunding the police in 2020. Almost 600 officers have left the department. The force is operating well below safe limits for a city its size. Large summer events have stretched the department well past its limits.

Additionally, parent company Rite Aid has closed dozens of stores in the area as it attempts to mitigate massive financial losses.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Rite Aid is planning to file for bankruptcy as a result of lawsuits and major losses, including $307 million in the most recent quarter, and debt of more than $3.3 billion, and has closed almost 200 locations in 17 states since January 2022.

In a Rite Aid financial report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bartell Drugs had been facing “increasing net losses” and “…would have needed to incur further significant debt to cover the operating costs.”