The buyout was successful. Rite-Aid bought out Eckerd’s drug stores. With the acquisitions, they’re inching up on the top two sellers – Wal*Mart Pharmacies and CVS stores. CVS bought out the Albertson’s pharmacies last year, keeping them the largest drugstore chain. Personally, I like Rite-Aid. They usually have really good sales, and the ones in my area are clean and well staffed. If Eckerd’s is your neighborhood pharmacy, I don’t think the transition will be painful. Change is difficult, though, for most of us.
To help make that change easier, look at the good side of it. Right now, all Eckerd’s brands at the newly acquired stores are 50% off. That includes diapers, bottled water, and foodstuffs. Some shoppers are reporting that their purchases are even ringing up as 75% off now that’s it’s July. Of course, it’s only until the Eckerd’s brands are gone. Then the labels will change and the exact same thing will be packaged as Rite Aid brand.
Be aware that these purchases don’t count toward the Rite-Aid rebates, nor will you likely be successful trying to use a Rite-Aid coupon on the Eckerd brands. If you’ve been collecting the Eckerd ones, I’d redeem them as soon as possible.
Make this even better by checking your Entertainment Book. Depending upon where you live, it may very well have a $5/$25 purchase coupon in it. Go to Entertainment.com and search by your zip code if you don’t already have the book. Right now, because the books are only good through November of this year, they’re only $9.99 + shipping. Mine has Safeway coupons in it for $5 off every month, so I’ve more than saved the purchase price with just the one coupon.
Remember, this is only until Eckerd’s brand items are gone. The quicker you get there, the better!