Rite Aid to acquire Bartell Drug for $95 million

A rainbow over the Bartell Drug in Mountlake Terrace. (2017 file photo by David Carlos)

After months of pandemic-related financial strain and years of uncertainty over its future, Bartell Drugs, one of the oldest companies in Washington state and one of the most familiar names in the local business community, is being sold, our online news partner The Seattle Times reported Wednesday.

Bartell has stores in Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace.

The 67-store regional drugstore chain, which has been owned by the same family since its founding in Seattle’s Central District in 1890, will be acquired by Rite Aid for $95 million, the companies announced 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.”

You can read more in The Times story here.

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