Will Hudson Valley Rite-Aid Locations Become Walgreens?

Will the Hudson Valley Rite-Aid locations remain?

It took four attempts, but Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. have secured regulatory approval to but Rite-Aid Corp. stores after a last minute deal change.

The drugstore chain gained clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, but still drew criticism from one of the commissioners, who raised concerns that the deal will reduce competition and lead to rising prices for generic drugs.

Walgreens will buy 1,932 Rite-Aid stores for $4.38 billion, becoming the biggest competitor for CVS Health Corp.

Walgreens has been attempting to complete this deal since the Fall of 2015. The deal, while reduced will allow Walgreens to expand it's footprint and edge past CVS to become the largest U.S. pharmacy chain by number of stores.

With the addition of the Rite-Aid stores, Walgreens will have about 10,000 locations in the U.S., according to Bloomburg.

The store purchases will begin in October, and be completed by Spring 2018.

Rite-Aid will still remain a competitor, as they will hold onto about 2,600 stores after the deal is complete.

Will we lose our Hudson Valley Rite-Aid locations?