After 135 years as one of the Seattle area’s most cherished retail brands, Bartell Drugs will go out not with a bang but a rebrand, as 20 of the remaining locations become CVS stores, CVS announced Friday morning.
The demise of the Bartell brand had been largely expected even before Bartell Drugs’ bankrupt parent, Rite Aid, said May 15 it planned to sell 64 Rite Aid and Bartell stores in Washington, Idaho and Oregon to CVS.
In a statement Friday, Rhode Island-based CVS said the 20 Bartell stores would become CVS Pharmacy locations once various transactions had closed, which a CVS spokesperson said could start as soon as mid-July. The company didn’t disclose the addresses of the locations that are being rebranded.
The sales come after Rite Aid, which purchased Bartell Drugs in 2020, filed bankruptcy for a second time on May 5. Since then, Rite Aid has announced the planned closures of dozens of locations in Washington, including at least 15 Bartell stores. Four of those Bartell closures were announced Friday.
It’s unclear if more Rite Aid or Bartell closures will be announced in coming weeks or exactly how many Bartell Drugs locations were still operating Friday. The store locator on Bartell Drugs website is inactive; Google Maps shows around three dozen stores currently operating, but many of those have been slated for closure.
That’s down from the 68 Bartell stores in the Puget Sound region shortly after Rite Aid bought the Seattle-based retailer from the Bartell family in 2020.
While the Bartell name will disappear, CVS appears to be planning to preserve at least some elements of the Seattle retailer’s business model.
“We know Bartell Drugs has been a much-loved brand in Washington and we’re planning to continue to offer many of the local products their customers have grown to know and love,” the statement said.
CVS also said it would “be enhancing the overall product selection and availability in these locations and adding team members to help ensure an excellent in-store shopping experience.”
Since Rite Aid bought Bartell Drugs nearly five years ago, the stores struggled with spotty inventory and less customer service, especially as Rite Aid’s own financial situation declined.
CVS said current Bartell employees interested in staying on under CVS “will also be considered for roles.”
It was a downbeat finish for a name that has been part of the Seattle retail landscape for well over a century, but not a surprising one.
Within two years of the 2020 sale, as Rite Aid’s own financial picture darkened, it began shutting down what it said were underperforming Bartell locations.
After Rite Aid filed its initial bankruptcy in October 2023, many industry experts speculated that the company would eventually end up selling any profitable locations, including Bartell Drugs stores, to repay its massive debts.
While it was possible that a buyer might have chosen to preserve Bartell Drugs as a stand-alone regional brand, experts said that would be difficult, given the small number of remaining stores and the challenges of maintaining a separate operation.
That pessimistic view solidified after Rite Aid was unable to mount a successful turnaround and reentered bankruptcy last month. The company announced a steady series of closures, including at least 15 Bartell stores as of Friday, and also closed the Bartell distribution center in Des Moines and laid off 131 workers.
By the time the sale to CVS was announced May 15, even many longtime employees thought the Bartell name had only a short time left.
As one former veteran Bartell Drugs worker put it shortly after the second bankruptcy filing in early May, “The consensus is the brand is over. Sad.”
CVS said the rebranded Rite Aid and Bartell locations will bolster the 70 locations CVS already has in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
