Rite Aid will lay off 241 employees at a Woodland, California, distribution center, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act letter dated Jan. 23.
The layoffs are set to begin the first week of March and will continue until the 1755 East Beamer St. location closes on May 12. While the closure is permanent, there will be a small number of employees who will work past the closure date to help with closing activities.
“After conducting a comprehensive analysis of our distribution network, we’ve made the difficult but necessary business decision to close our Woodland, California, distribution center, and transition operations to our Lancaster, CA, distribution center beginning in May, to best support our stores and ensure greater efficiencies,” the company told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
Positions affected include operations managers, forklift operators and warehouse employees.
The company also said impacted associates working through the end of their transition period will receive severance packages and outplacement support.
The drug store chain is restructuring its operations as it works its way through the bankruptcy process.
After filing for bankruptcy in October, Rite Aid got the green light from a judge to pay its critical suppliers and other vendors. The company is also preparing to close its Wilsonville, Oregon, distribution center in April and transition its operations to a facility in Washington.
