More than 70 Rite Aid pharmacies have shuttered or are preparing to close across the Pittsburgh area as the company undergoes bankruptcy and restructuring.

Customers’ prescriptions have been transferred to other pharmacies, but the empty stores will leave a large group of properties — in prime commercial locations across Western Pennsylvania — without tenants.

The former Rite Aid on Greensburg’s East Pittsburgh Street is positioned in the middle of the city’s downtown commercial area. A Penn Hills Rite Aid is just a few hundred feet from one of the town’s busiest intersections, Frankstown and Saltsburg roads.

“It’s a great opportunity for something,” said Greensburg planning director Alec Italiano. “You have ample parking, and it’s in one of the busiest areas in Greensburg. I don’t think most of these places will sit vacant for too long.”

The properties where these Rite Aids are located are owned by a variety of entities, ranging from individuals to limited-liability corporations to international banks such as Wells Fargo. A large number of stores statewide, including one in Monessen, are owned by a company called Rite Aid of Pennsylvania.

Rite Aid officials did not return messages seeking comment.

Pittsburgh real estate firm NAI Burns Scalo is working with owners of a couple Rite Aid properties.

“Every situation is different,” said Curt Starr, NAI Burns Scalo’s senior vice president of corporate advisory services. “Rite Aid owns some of the properties, but they also lease a lot of them, so landlords will have some time to get their tenant situation in order as Rite Aid runs out the terms of those leases.”

In Lower Burrell, the Rite Aid on Oregon Drive hasn’t even been closed for a month yet.

Lower Burrell City Manager Greg Primm said its pharmacy customers are in luck, since the nearby Community Supermarket has a Giant Eagle pharmacy inside.

“Ours was a newer, standalone Rite Aid, so it’s a really nice building and I’d expect it to be very marketable,” Primm said. “We haven’t had any contact with Rite Aid at this point, but the mayor and council have had some discussions about possibly trying to help market the property.”

The Lower Burrell site is owned by a limited-liability corporation from New York — Round Lake Realty. Representatives could not be reached for comment.

Italiano, the Greensburg planning director, thinks both former Rite Aid properties in Greensburg have good development potential.

“The one on North Main Street is also technically zoned residential, and it’s in our overlay district, which offers some flexibility with what can ultimately go in there,” he said. “We’re also in the process of updating our zoning ordinance, which could affect what might go there in the future. It’s not a great thing to have them closed, but they’re prime for redevelopment.”

Starr said any of the properties that include a drive-thru are sure to attract attention.

“That’s good news for people trying to repurpose them,” Starr said. “Drive-thrus are tough to get permitted in some municipalities. That could be very appealing for a business like a bank.”

In Scottdale, borough manager Stacey Coffman has been trying to reach the private owner of the Centennial Way Rite Aid property.

“The way it’s set up and laid out would be ideal for a chain store,” Coffman said. “It’s very roomy inside, and if it was cleaned out, you could put just about anything in there.”

The former Scottdale Rite Aid is also in an older building that does not have the chain’s signature arched front. But its commercial appeal doesn’t change the fact the community is losing its central pharmacy.

“Probably 80% of our residents, myself included, frequented the Rite Aid,” Coffman said. “I know they sent prescriptions to nearby places like CVS or Walmart, but some of our senior citizens may not be able to travel or go outside of Scottdale.”

Starr said it’s difficult to say what will happen to most of the Rite Aid properties.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when you’re talking about 70-some properties,” he said.

Some older Rite Aids already have been redeveloped: The former New Kensington Rite Aid that closed its doors in 2023 is home to a Phantom Fireworks store. In 2018, before any talk of Rite Aid filing bankruptcy began, the Tarentum store closed and was donated to a local church, Abundant Joy Fellowship.

“I think there are lots of examples of drugstores across the area being developed into other things,” Italiano said.

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