Thousands of customers scrambled to find new pharmacies as Rite Aid shuttered all of its stores in Michigan and Ohio. “The drugstore’s latest filings at bankruptcy court show it has now completely cut all ties with the two Midwestern states,” Daily Mail reports. Embattled pharmacy chain Rite Aid has been shuttering locations across the country. Michigan and Ohio were hit hardest in the latest wave announced in August. https://t.co/GpRCMoDGhp — Fast Company (@FastCompany) August 16, 2024 The drugstore chain has already closed 74 stores in August, with all but two being in the Midwestern states. Rite Aid operated over 2,000 stores before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2023, Daily Mail noted. REPORT: KAMALANOMICSMichigan & Ohio @riteaid Customers Scramble As Every Location Closes… https://t.co/mzqCAXEhQz — John Basham (@JohnBasham) August 17, 2024 Daily Mail reports: The latest closures – 74 so far in August- were all in the two Midwest states apart from one each in California and Washington. That is on top of 169 in July, all in Ohio and Michigan. Under a year ago the two states had the fourth and fifth highest number of Rite Aids in the US. Now all 234 in Michigan and 183 in Ohio have been shuttered, or will be soon. Rite Aid has been facing a series of challenges. Drugstores, generally, are struggling to compete with big-box chains and with Amazon, which launched its own online-only pharmacy in 2020. On top of that, Rite Aid faced a series of lawsuits accusing the company of overprescribing opioids. The most recent closures came in filings dated July 29, August 2, 5 and 9. Panic as Rite Aid abruptly shuts ALL stores in two states – with customers scrambling to find a new pharmacy https://t.co/UvIsH2cjs3 pic.twitter.com/grX0J6n8rD — Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 16, 2024 Rite Aid plans to emerge from bankruptcy with approximately 1,300 stores total, the outlet noted. It operated over 5,000 stores in 2008. Per Breitbart: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against Rite Aid and its multiple subsidiaries in March, alleging that the business filled prescriptions for amounts of opioids “that had obvious, and often multiple, red flags indicating misuse.” Other major convenience and drugstore chains have been failing around the country. Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, 99 Cents Only, and more retailers have closed thousands, if not all, of their locations. There were nearly 2,600 retail store closures documented within the first four months of 2024, according to the Daily Mail. “If that trend continues, almost 8,000 will have been lost by the end of the year,” the analysis found.