Rite Aid customers can expect their local store to close or change ownership in the next few months as the struggling drugstore chain goes through another bankruptcy filing.

New research shows that nearly three out of 10 U.S. drugstores that were open during the previous decade had closed by 2021.

Urban and rural communities have come to depend on pharmacies as a trusted care option and a place for advice.

Rite Aid’s plan to close more stores as part of its bankruptcy process raises concern about how that might hurt access to medicine and care.

Rite Aid pharmacists were accused of ignoring obvious signs of misuse, including in prescriptions for “trinities,” a combination of opioids, benzodiazepine and muscle relaxants preferred by drug abusers for their increased euphoric effect.

The COVID-19 pandemic swept in some big changes to how drugstores and other retailers do business.