Photo credit: Getty Images, via the New York Post

– As reported here Oct. 2015, Walgreens intends to purchase Rite Aid
– Rite-Aid’s current Yelm location was originally built as a Payless Drug Store 20 years ago
– Payless was purchased by Rite-Aid in Oct. 1996
– Yelm Payless Drug Store site converted to a Rite-Aid in 1998, after conclusion of merger
– Rite-Aid’s Yelm Safeway neighbor opened in 1999.
– If approved, Yelm will have a prominent national drug store company in Walgreens
– Would Walgreen’s continue Rite-Aid’s type of weekly advertising inserts in the NVN?


– “Walgreens’s Deal with Rite Aid Still on, but Delayed”
Rite Aid and Walgreens have mutually extended the last date of their merger agreement to January 27, 2017, from October 27, 2016. As per the terms of the merger agreement, either of the two parties could extend the date of the agreement to January 27, 2017. Walgreens is now aiming to sell off stores by the end of 2016,” from Market Realist.
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– Walgreens Drugstores, Inc. initially looked at a Yelm location on the pad adjacent the Yelm Medical Plaza to build a store location here and withdrew, now the Olympia Federal Savings site. If the completion of the Rite-Aid acquisition by Walgreens occurs, Yelm will finally get a location of this quality company at Rite-Aid’s Yelm Ave. E. & Vancil Rd. corner, which recently completed a major renovation.


– Editor’s Note:
If the merger is consummated, will Walgreens continue Rite-Aid’s weekly advertising inserts in the NVN, or dump them in favor of direct mail, which would be a huge revenue loss for our local newspaper?