New Lehigh Valley Rite Aid store on bankruptcy closing list

Another Rite Aid store in the Lehigh Valley is joining the list of closures for the troubled pharmacy chain.

The location at 1628 S. Fourth St. in south Allentown has been added to the list that already includes four other Valley locations.

A closing date was not announced.

Philadelphia-based Rite Aid announced an additional 154 closings nationwide as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from earlier this week.

Included on this list was one at 2178 Union Blvd., Bethlehem, which closed for good on Tuesday. A location in Quakertown was shuttered last September, and another in Pennsburg is one of 78 stores where Rite Aid is putting the leases up for sale.

Rite Aid had been closing down about 500 stores in recent weeks as part of the bankruptcy plan. It has about 2,100 locations in 17 states.

Rite Aid’s financial pains hit Lehigh Valley; 4 stores closing

Other Valley closures include 361 S. Cedar Crest Blvd. in Allentown; 601 S. 25th St., Palmer Township; and 901 Northampton St., Easton.

The Wall Street Journal reported in September that the company has debts of $3.3 billion and is facing more than 1,000 lawsuits from its handling of opioid prescriptions and its effects on that epidemic.

The company said Tuesday it received $3.45 billion in new financing that will go toward keeping remaining stores open and keeping employees paid while its restructuring moves forward.

Rite Aid will have 12 remaining locations in the Lehigh Valley.