Rite Aid at 46-12 Greenpoint Avenue is slated to close April 25 (Photo: Nina Sityar)
April 7, 2022 By Christian Murray
The Rite Aid store in the heart of Sunnyside will be closing later this month.
Employees at the 46-12 Greenpoint Ave. store were notified Wednesday that it will shutter on April 25 and were stunned.
“I’m really upset,” said one employee, a Woodside resident who has been a pharmacy technician at the store for 36 years. “It’s very disheartening that after all these years they give us just two weeks notice.”
The employee said that she has yet to hear from Rite Aid’s human resources department as to whether she will be offered a job elsewhere or will be terminated from the company. She said that the employees at the store are not hopeful since Rite Aid has been closing many stores.
The Rite Aid on Greenpoint Avenue serves a large number of residents, the employee said, with the store taking up nearly half the block. She said that many people will be shocked when they hear the news.
The Queens Post was unable to reach Rite Aid’s corporate office for comment.
The employee said that it was a toss-up between the Greenpoint Avenue store and the store on 50-12 Roosevelt Ave. as to which would close. She said that the Greenpoint Avenue store is “union” and the Roosevelt Avenue store nonunion.
She anticipates that people’s prescriptions will be transferred to the Roosevelt Avenue store, although she was not certain. She believes that about 30 people are employed at the Greenpoint store.
Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, who also just learned of Rite Aid’s plans to shut the store, said the planned closure represents a big loss to the Sunnyside community.
“This business is central to the neighborhood, and vital to our seniors who rely on the nearness of the pharmacy for access to their medication,” Nolan said in a statement. “Not only is this a blow to the residents of the area, but to the unionized staff of this Rite Aid location, who were given quite short notice of the closure.”
“It is my understanding that a number of Rite Aid locations which have been slated to close happen to be unionized, and I will be contacting 1199, community leaders, and partners in government to discuss this trend and the needs of the community as a result of this plan,” Nolan added.
