Apr. 30—Youngstown’s Rite Aid will be one of many closing this year but village residents say they’ll take a bigger hit than most.

The 214 Lockport St. location’s last day of operation will be on June 20, with the pharmacy’s last day being May 19. Assistant Manager Johnny Taylor said they were informed of the impending closure this past Thursday.

“We’re pretty upset with it,” said employee Geraldine Mowers. She said they were previously told this location was safe when Rite Aid last announced which New York stores would close. “So is the whole town. There is nothing left in the village, except a little grocery store, one bar, and one restaurant.”

With the closure, Youngstown will be without a pharmacy in its immediate area, the closest other Rite Aids being in Ransomville and Lewiston. Mowers said their current pharmacy patients will be transferred to the Lewiston CVS at 795 Center St., but the customer has to ultimately decide where to go.

Youngstown residents Cheryl Suitor and Gail McCalister were both upset with the news since the village already lacks a major grocery store, bank and any other drugstores. Now they will have to go somewhere else to do their shopping.

“It was a family store,” Suitor said, adding that it caters to the middle- and lower-income people of the area.

The closure is the ninth announced Rite Aid closing this year in the immediate Western New York area, which includes the following locations listed in Buffalo Business First:

—459 S. Transit Road in Lockport

—47 Niagara St. in Tonawanda

—2453 Elmwood Ave. in Kenmore

—3249 Sheridan Drive in Amherst

—2047 Sheridan Drive in Buffalo

—452 Main St. in Buffalo

—15 Arnold St. in Buffalo

—2887 Harlem Road in Cheektowaga

The Rite Aid at 1717 Pine Ave. closed in May of 2023.

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last fall, having reportedly closed more than 400 stores nationwide as it has a debt load of $4 billion and $8.6 billion in total liabilities. The bankruptcy proceedings come amid falling sales and the aftermath of opioid-related lawsuits.