Walgreens and Rite Aid announced Thursday that they are no longer merging, following an acquisition announcement in October 2015. Instead, Walgreens will acquire 2,186 Rite Aid stores, leaving Rite Aid with 2,350 stores. The two brands will remain separate in the marketplace.

The scaled back agreement reflects the two organization’s business needs and changing retail marketplace.

Now that the uncertainty of the merger is gone, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals will work diligently with Rite Aid to obtain further information while remaining sensitive to their primary business and media obligations. Members of our Strategic Partnership team will be at Rite Aid for a pre-scheduled visit on July 12 and we will provide you another update following that meeting. We will utilize that meeting to discuss strategy and future fundraising growth.

We feel positive about our future with Rite Aid. Official 2017 Rite Aid campaign numbers will be announced in the next two weeks, but initial reporting is tracking 11 percent up year-over-year. Their internal team continues to be engaged and supportive of children’s hospitals through our daily contacts and their position on the CMN Hospitals Board of Governors.

Recognizing the loss of many Rite Aid stores, the CMN Hospitals New Business team is continually evaluating our current pharmacy portfolio and looking for new opportunities within the sector.

Should you have questions regarding this announcement or the Rite Aid partnership, please contact Amanda Clark, Director, Partnerships at aclark@cmnhospitals.org or Shirley Rogers, Senior Vice President, Hospital Relations, at srogers@cmnhospitals.org.