Monday, December 22, 2025

The former Rite Aid is looking more like a grocery store every day

Photos Saturday by Stacie Joy 

The grocery transformation of the former Rite Aid on First Avenue at Fifth Street continues. 

In recent days, workers have brought in refrigeration units, and a check-out of sorts is shaping up...
Unfortunately, we still haven't learned which grocery this will be... no one, including neighbors and local officials, seems to know. Even a few workers who spoke with us at the start of the renovation didn't know — they were just there to install lighting for what will be a new grocery store. 

The East Village Rite Aid closed on Aug. 24 after five weeks of going-out-of-business sales. The 63-year-old pharmacy chain filed for bankruptcy twice in two years before shutting down entirely last month. 

The EV lease for the 8,500-square-foot space was auctioned off this past summer. (The auction was just for the lease, set to expire in January 2032, not the building.)
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14 comments:

  1. UnknownDecember 22, 2025 at 10:02 AM

    This is good news as we can really use a good grocery store with fresh vegetables in the neighborhood and not another bar or smoke shop.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ckDecember 22, 2025 at 10:54 AM

    would love trader joes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. CPBDecember 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM

    Ditto!

    ReplyDelete
  4. cmarrtyyDecember 22, 2025 at 1:24 PM

    It doesn't seem to be Trader Joe or Whole Foods... neither have checkout counters like the ones in the pictures. And it doesn't look like there's an escalator to a basement ... So I suspect a smaller chain... or a private one-off store.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ShadowwhispersDecember 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM

    I'm hoping for a bank or frozen yogurt joint.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MiaDecember 22, 2025 at 3:34 PM

    I would love to see an Aldi's or Lidl there. We need "cheaper" grocery stores.

    ReplyDelete
  7. DanielDecember 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM

    Key Food is too expensive!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. billDecember 22, 2025 at 6:11 PM

    This space is probably not large enough to be a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.

    ReplyDelete
  9. DP in EVDecember 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM

    This WAS a grocery store when I moved into the nabes in 1983. A MET as I recall. I remember watching an old lady push her thumb through the cellophane of several packages of meat and then sniffing it. I made sure to always check for holes after that.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jerry KDecember 22, 2025 at 8:52 PM

    Used to be an A&P

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnnieDecember 24, 2025 at 10:59 AM

    I'm so excited!! I'm so close to it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousDecember 27, 2025 at 9:58 PM

    a grocery store would be fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousDecember 29, 2025 at 11:29 PM

    Actually it was Sloan’s! (Sloans?)

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2026 at 4:51 PM

    Those look like Lidl checkout counters.

    ReplyDelete

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