After months of rumors, Rite Aid Corp. has confirmed that its Quincy store will close its doors for the last time July 20. Rite Aid was the only chain pharmacy in Plumas County, and one of only two pharmacies serving the Quincy area. Nine store employees will be impacted by the closure. The store was one year short of its 50th anniversary.
Back-to-back bankruptcies
The first Rite Aid Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing took place in 2023. The chain aimed to restructure finances and keep as many stores open as possible. But the store struggled with inventory issues and continued to lose customers to other outlets offering pharmacy and home items.
Also in 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint against Rite Aid related to the opioid crisis, alleging the company knowingly filled hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances. Rite Aid reached a settlement of nearly $410 million with the DOJ in 2024, according to a press release. The company filed for bankruptcy a second time in May 2025, citing significant debt burden and legal liabilities.
Rite Aid CEO Matt Schroeder said the company is pursuing a “strategic and value-maximizing sale process” for substantially all of its assets. “While we have continued to face financial challenges, intensified by the rapidly evolving retail and health care landscapes in which we operate, we are encouraged by meaningful interest from a number of potential national and regional strategic acquirers,” said Schroeder.
Some stores have been purchased by other companies, but the Quincy Rite Aid was not among them.
History of Quincy Rite Aid
The Plumas Pines Shopping Center, where the Rite Aid store is located, held its grand opening in September 1976, according to the Feather River Bulletin. The new 86,172-square-foot shopping center, built on 6 acres of an old mill pond owned by E.G. (Ernie) Leonhardt, sparked its own controversy once the development began in 1974.
Downtown Quincy merchants and other residents were adamantly opposed to the new commercial center to be built south of State Route 70 across from Quincy Junior-Senior High School. Downtown Quincy merchants feared losing business. At the time, downtown Quincy included two pharmacies: Quincy Drug Store and Rexall Drug.
The opposition group was called Coalition for the Preservation of the Environment of Plumas County, headed by Quincy retailer H.E. Graves. Members attended planning and board of supervisor meetings, determined to halt the project. Other residents saw this development as a beneficial opportunity, hoping it might stop locals from shopping in Reno and add competition, which some claimed was good for business. The Plumas County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the development in 1975.
The largest store in the new shopping center was Safeway, which had outgrown its former location at what is now the Quincy post office site between Lawrence and Main streets. Thrifty Drug was the second largest new store, offering a pharmacy, household items and sundries — and its popular ice cream. Other stores in the grand opening included Sprouse-Reitz variety store, Beno’s Apparel, Round Table Pizza, Perko’s Koffee Kup restaurant, California Natural Foods and Thrifty Wash Laundromat.
More businesses would later join the shopping center, which had the capacity for a total of 14 storefronts. In 1996, after acquiring Thrifty Payless Holding Inc., Rite Aid, a large chain drug store, expanded to the West and Gulf coasts. The store in Quincy did not officially change its name to Rite Aid until 1998.
Board of supervisors responds
At the June 11 board meeting, Plumas County supervisors received a closure notice, required under Senate Bill 1089, for the Quincy Rite Aid. The closure will affect nine employees as well as pharmacy services, the notice stated. The last day for pharmacy service is July 2. The store will fully close July 20. Quincy Pharmacy has offered to accept all former Rite Aid customers. Pharmacies are also available in Chester and Portola.
The county supervisors also discussed the impact on Rite Aid customers and how the county can lessen it. Assuming many customers will turn to Quincy Pharmacy for their prescriptions, the supervisors weighed options for making nearby parking more accessible.
The Califormia Department of Transportation has authority over Main Street in Quincy; it is a section of State Route 70, said Rob Thorman, county public works director. The county is responsible for side streets in Quincy. Thorman suggested considering a parking limit of 15 minutes on adjacent side streets and a new designated accessible parking space.
Those changes would require a county ordinance, Thorman said. The supervisors directed him and other staff to develop a proposal for an ordinance to provide greater parking access to Quincy Pharmacy.
“Our role is to assure people have access to the services they need,” said Supervisor Mimi Hall.
Tanny Sloat has been the Rite Aid manager for the last 18 years, starting his career with Thrifty in 1991 before moving to Quincy. He is now one of the nine people to be laid off or transferred to another store. When interviewed, Sloat said he hadn’t made any future plans and preferred not to comment on the store closure.
Quincy Pharmacy, at 411 Main St., can be reached at 530-283-4545 or via https://quincypharmacy.com/.
