Rite Aid denies claims that NYC store closures leading to job loss amid high-profile NYC robberies

A spate of high-profile robberies at New York City Rite Aid locations has highlighted store closures in the area, but the pharmacy and retail giant is pushing back against the notion that its workers are being left without jobs – or that its shops are shuttering only as a result of organized retail theft. 

Videos and local reports that have circulated in recent days highlighted brazen shoplifting in at least two Rite Aid stores in Manhattan – in the Hell’s Kitchen and Upper East Side neighborhoods. Both stores are scheduled to close in early-to-mid February, a Rite Aid spokesperson confirmed to FOX Business. 

The spokesperson told FOX Business on Monday that the stores are closing "for a number of reasons" based on months-long reviews that are carried out "across the full footprint of 2,500 stores." Sixty-three stores nationwide, roughly 2% of the total number of Rite Aid locations, will be closing as a result of this months-long review, which the company announced in December, the spokesperson said. 

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The spokesperson said the decisions "are never for one reason, but a variety of factors that retail businesses much consider, such as overarching business strategy, lease and rent considerations, store performance, and much more."

Actor and comedian Michael Rapaport has said he was at his neighborhood Rite Aid store in the Upper East Side earlier this month when he watched as a man loaded two bags full of allegedly stolen goods. Rapaport further captured footage that showed the alleged thief passing a store security guard as he waltzed out the front doors holding the bags of loot.

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"This f------ guy just filled his two bags up with everything in Rite Aid, right here on 80th [Street] and First Avenue is walking down the street like s--- is Gucci," Rapaport said in an Instagram post, according to the New York Post. "I was watching him the whole time." 

Soon after, a New York Post reporter spotted a similarly brazen shoplifting incident at a Hell’s Kitchen location, where "store sources" told the outlet people have stolen over $200,000 in store goods over the past couple of months. 

The Rite Aid spokesperson told FOX Business that the Hell’s Kitchen store will close permanently on Feb. 8, while the Upper East Side location will shutter on Feb. 15. 

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But reports that the store employees are being left without other job options are wrong, the spokesperson said.  

"Every associate has been offered job opportunities and transfers within Rite Aid," the spokesperson said. Pointing to reports and claims of job loss, the spokesperson added: "There is no job loss tied to these decisions; rather, associates have been offered and are taking roles at other Rite Aid’s in the area."

The spokesperson would not comment when asked what other New York City locations would be closing. 

The New York Police Department's citywide statistics show that petit larceny – or the theft of property valued up to $1,000 – has increased by 14.5%, or from 4,948 to 5,663, year to date in 2022 compared to 2021. 

Fox News reporter Eric Shawn was inside a different big-name store in Manhattan when he saw a man "grabbing everything that he could," loading it into a bag, and walking out, Shawn said. 

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"When I went back to report this guy to the store clerks, they told me, ‘Well, this happens all the time,’" Shawn said. He added that the clerks said they’ve been told not to intervene in case the shoplifters "turn violent." 

Incidents of retail theft are not unique to New York City. San Francisco made headlines last year after video circulated showing a man riding a bike through a Walgreens store hauling apparently stolen goods.