By TOM MURPHY, Related Press

Ceremony Assist is once more searching for chapter safety because the struggling drugstore chain says it can attempt to promote considerably all of its property.

The corporate stated Monday that its shops will stay open because it returns to Chapter 11 chapter proceedings.

The corporate stated it can work to make sure that buyer prescriptions are transferred to different pharmacies because it goes by way of the sale course of. The pharmacy chain has lined up from a few of its lenders $1.94 billion in new financing which assist fund it by way of the sale and chapter proceedings.

The corporate initially filed for chapter safety in October 2023, with plans to promote elements of its enterprise and restructure. The corporate ran greater than 2,300 shops in 17 states earlier than the submitting.

Ceremony Assist stated then that its preliminary voluntary Chapter 11 submitting would permit it to slash debt and resolve litigation. The corporate offered its comparatively small pharmacy advantages administration enterprise, Elixir Options, for round $576 million.

Ceremony Assist emerged from Chapter 11 practically a yr later as a personal firm. The pharmacy chain stated in an announcement that it got here out of the method stronger, “with a rightsized store footprint, more efficient operating model, significantly less debt and additional financial resources.”

Ceremony Assist’s collectors took possession of the chain, which shrank to 1,245 shops in 15 states, in accordance with its web site.

A spokeswoman stated in March that the corporate was “laser focused” on its retail pharmacies, together with restocking its shops.

However in early Could, empty white cabinets dotted a retailer that sits a number of miles from Ceremony Assist’s company headquarters in Philadelphia. The one rolls of wrapping paper within the retailer have been some Christmas-themed choices that leaned subsequent to empty shelf area beneath an indication promoting “Great Value!”

The placement additionally had a restricted choice of worthwhile magnificence merchandise and drugstore staples resembling Qtips and cotton balls.

Retail analyst Neil Saunders stated such a glance encourages buyers to not return.

“They’re actively pushing customers away,” stated Saunders, managing director of the consulting and knowledge evaluation agency GlobalData.

Ceremony Assist was trying to show round its enterprise in a tricky surroundings for drugstores. Main chains and unbiased pharmacies have been closing shops and battling a number of challenges.

Prescription profitability has grown tight. The chains are also coping with elevated theft, court docket settlements over opioid prescriptions and buyers who’re drifting extra to on-line purchasing and low cost retailers.

Walgreens, which has greater than six instances as many shops as Ceremony Assist, agreed in March to be acquired by the non-public fairness agency Sycamore Companions.

Philadelphia-based Ceremony Assist was based in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as Thrif D Low cost Heart. The corporate had struggled with debt, posted annual losses for a number of years and was slicing prices and shutting shops properly earlier than its preliminary chapter submitting.

Ceremony Assist additionally explored sale presents.

Walgreens tried to purchase it for about $9.4 billion a decade in the past, when Ceremony Assist ran greater than 4,600 shops. However the bigger drugstore chain finally scaled again its ambition and purchased lower than half that complete to get the deal previous antitrust regulators.

In 2018, Ceremony Assist referred to as off a separate merger with the grocery store Albertsons.

Jonathan Poet contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives help from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Instructional Media Group. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.

Initially Revealed: Could 5, 2025 at 5:35 PM EDT