Rite Aid is closing all stores in Michigan

BERKLEY, Mich. (WWJ) -- Rite Aid has expanded its list of store closings, and it's a long one.

Now, the pharmacy chain — which had which had 186 stores in Michigan two months ago — says all of its remaining stores in Michigan will be shutting down.

"This is obviously going to mean hundreds of jobs lost," said WWJ's Darrylin Horne, reporting from the store in Berkley, which won't be open much longer. "Faithful customers will have to seek another place to shop for essential items, and people who depend on prescription drugs...are gonna face some trouble."

That includes Ruth, who lives in the Berkley area. She said she believes this big corporations don't care about regular folks like her.

"Oh, I'm going to Walgreens, Walgreens that's where I'll be going next," she told Horne. "And, you know, it's just so sad, the world that we're living in. It seems like nobody give a hoot about people...They got to start doing better."

The Berkley store, on 12 Mile Rd. near Coolidge, is set to close on September 8. People who do get their prescriptions from that location are told to move their scripts to Walgreens.

Rite Aid is also shuttering its distribution center in Waterford Township, effective this Friday. The nearly 200 employees who work at that facticity will be laid off.

Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in October after posting annual losses for several years.

The good news: Shoppers might be able to get a deal on a cartful of items, as going-out-of-businesses sales are underway at numerous stores in Metro Detroit and across the state.