Regional drug store chain Bartell Drugs sold to Rite Aid for $95 million

SEATTLE – Bartell Drugs, one of the oldest companies in Washington state, is being sold to Rite Aid for $95 million.

The 67-store regional drugstore chain has been owned by the same family since its founding in Seattle’s Central District in 1890. The companies announced the deal Wednesday.

“We felt that this was the only answer,” said George D. Bartell, co-owner and chairman of the company his grandfather, George H. Bartell Sr., founded 130 years ago. “It was getting more difficult for regional operators to compete in the market.”

The Seattle Times reported that Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid, which has about 2,500 stores in 19 states, including 69 in the Seattle area, will keep the Bartell name on the stores. It disclosed no plans to close stores or cut any of Bartell’s roughly 1,600 retail staff. The sale is expected to close in December.

Bartell’s presence across neighborhoods was a big part of the attraction, said Heyward Donigan, Rite Aid president and chief executive officer.

“That’s kind of who we want to be, more and more, is your local neighborhood pharmacy,” Donigan said.