Aid Corp

John M. Schmitt, a director of real estate for the Rite Aid Corp., died of a heart attack Saturday while playing golf at the Hunt Valley Golf Club, where he had been a member for 20 years.A memorial service for Mr. Schmitt, who was 51 and a resident of Sparks, will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. James Episcopal Church, 3100 Monkton Road.A native of New Hartford, N.Y., he attended Texas Christian University and graduated from Syracuse University in 1962 with a degree in political science.

Rite Aid is growing, but will its stock keep on growing? - R.C., via the Internet Rite Aid Corp., the nation's third-largest drugstore chain behind Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp., is in a growth spurt. Already operating about 3,300 drugstores in 27 states and the District of Columbia, it intends to purchase 1,858 drugstores under the Brooks and Eckerd names, along with six distribution centers. These are being acquired from Canada's Jean Coutu Group Inc. in a deal announced at roughly $3.4 billion in cash and stock.

CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp., the third-largest U.S. drugstore chain, and General Nutrition Cos., the No. 1 U.S. specialty-vitamin retailer, said yesterday that they will buy stakes in Drugstore.com Inc. as part of a 10-year agreement to sell their products on the World Wide Web.Rite Aid agreed to invest $7.6 million for 25.3 percent of Drugstore.com, a closely held online retailer of health care products. General Nutrition will pay $2.4 million for 8 percent. Drugstore.com will have exclusive rights to Internet sales of GNC products and the Rite Aid/GNC PharmAssure brand of vitamins and supplements, to be introduced in the fall.

For nearly five years, Martin L. Grass spun an intricate web of lies and deceit and fraud, enriching himself while driving his sprawling drugstore chain, Rite Aid Corp., to the brink of bankruptcy, federal prosecutors and regulators charged yesterday. The 37-count criminal indictment and a 57-page civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission provide an extensive look into what the SEC described as "one of the largest financial frauds ever perpetrated on the investing public by senior management of a public company."

An Ohio pharmacist who accused Rite Aid Corp. of bribery has recanted his allegations in a letter of apology to company president Martin L. Grass as part of a settlement of a defamation lawsuit the drugstore chain filed against the pharmacist.The settlement is the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle between Rite Aid, the nation's largest drugstore chain, based in Shiremanstown, Pa., and the board that regulates pharmacies in Ohio.In his letter to Grass, released by Rite Aid, druggist Melvin T. Wilczynski expressed regret for having cooperated with agents of the pharmacy board and state and federal prosecutors.

Rite Aid is growing, but will its stock keep on growing? - R.C., via the Internet Rite Aid Corp., the nation's third-largest drugstore chain behind Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp., is in a growth spurt. Already operating about 3,300 drugstores in 27 states and the District of Columbia, it intends to purchase 1,858 drugstores under the Brooks and Eckerd names, along with six distribution centers. These are being acquired from Canada's Jean Coutu Group Inc. in a deal announced at roughly $3.4 billion in cash and stock.

CAMP HILL, Pa. - Rite Aid Corp., the No. 3 U.S. drugstore chain, started a national advertising campaign that highlights its pharmacists' commitment to customer service. The campaign features print ads, in-store signs and commercials on television networks including CNN, TNT, Lifetime and A&E. The spots depict pharmacists caring for patients in real-life incidents, such as a Rite Aid pharmacist giving a surprised customer a get-well card along with her medicine. The tagline for the ads is "With us, it's personal," the company said.

CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp., which warned of lower profit last week and saw its shares plunge, is under review by federal regulators looking at accounting practices related to its purchases of smaller drugstore chains and other businesses, analysts said yesterday.The review by the Securities and Exchange Commission began after the third-largest U.S. drugstore chain filed a plan to sell new shares to the public.The stock sale would finance its $1.5 billion purchase of PCS Health Services, a pharmacy benefits manager, from Eli Lilly & Co.Rite Aid has been aggressively expanding through acquisitions and store openings in recent years to keep up with larger rivals Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp.

Drugstore giant Rite Aid Corp. will expand on Maryland's Eastern Shore and double its presence in Delaware by acquiring Edgehill Drugs Inc., the largest drugstore chain on the Delmarva Peninsula, Rite Aid said yesterday.The nation's third-largest drugstore operator, with more than $12 billion in annual sales, said it will add privately owned Edgehill's 25 stores to its empire.Rite Aid did not disclose the purchase price. The company is scheduled to close the deal March 2 and expects the acquisition to add to earnings starting with the first quarter of fiscal year 2000.

Japan trade surplus rises 4.8%Japan's giant trade surplus rose 4.8 percent, to $14.45 billion, in July from $13.78 billion a year earlier, the Finance Ministry announced yesterday.A ministry official told reporters that the trade surplus was still on a falling trend, but added that future movements were uncertain because of possible changes in crude-oil prices and the yen/dollar rate.The ministry, which announced the trade figures yesterday, said the surplus in Japan's current account, its broadest measure of trade in goods and services, rose 0.9 percent to $11.74 billion in July.

CAMP HILL, Pa. - Rite Aid Corp., the No. 3 U.S. drugstore chain, started a national advertising campaign that highlights its pharmacists' commitment to customer service. The campaign features print ads, in-store signs and commercials on television networks including CNN, TNT, Lifetime and A&E. The spots depict pharmacists caring for patients in real-life incidents, such as a Rite Aid pharmacist giving a surprised customer a get-well card along with her medicine. The tagline for the ads is "With us, it's personal," the company said.

Robert G. Miller arrived at his new job as head of the struggling store chain to find debt mounting, employee morale sinking, stock prices plunging and competitors elbowing in right and left. Miller, reputedly one of the best executives in retail, wavered a half-year before taking the job. That was nearly a decade ago, when Miller became chief executive officer of Fred Meyer Inc., then a Portland, Ore.-based food and apparel super-center chain. He is credited with reversing the chain's fortunes and positioning it for an acquisition last year by Kroger Co., the food retailing giant.

Rite Aid making right moves, now it must deliver Troubled chain has name, know-how and $640 million Last week, Rite Aid Corp. announced that it received a $1 billion credit line from lenders, staving off bankruptcy and giving the troubled Camp Hill, Pa., drugstore chain two years to restore its financial health. After using $360 million for refinancing expenses and to repay other debt, the company has $640 million to support its turnaround plan. Last year, Rite Aid was forced to restate three years of earnings downward by $500 million after the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the company's accounting practices.

CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp., the third-largest U.S. drugstore chain, and General Nutrition Cos., the No. 1 U.S. specialty-vitamin retailer, said yesterday that they will buy stakes in Drugstore.com Inc. as part of a 10-year agreement to sell their products on the World Wide Web.Rite Aid agreed to invest $7.6 million for 25.3 percent of Drugstore.com, a closely held online retailer of health care products. General Nutrition will pay $2.4 million for 8 percent. Drugstore.com will have exclusive rights to Internet sales of GNC products and the Rite Aid/GNC PharmAssure brand of vitamins and supplements, to be introduced in the fall.

Rite Aid Corp. reported yesterday that its fourth-quarter earnings declined 39 percent, apparently suffering more than expected from the company's aggressive expansion efforts.Net income fell to $73 million, or 28 cents a share, in the quarter that ended Feb. 27, from $119.7 million, or 44 cents, a year earlier.Three weeks ago, Rite Aid warned that its earnings would not meet estimates, and would be in the 30 cents to 32 cents range. Analysts polled by First Call Corp. had estimated that earnings would reach 52 cents.

CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp., which warned of lower profit last week and saw its shares plunge, is under review by federal regulators looking at accounting practices related to its purchases of smaller drugstore chains and other businesses, analysts said yesterday.The review by the Securities and Exchange Commission began after the third-largest U.S. drugstore chain filed a plan to sell new shares to the public.The stock sale would finance its $1.5 billion purchase of PCS Health Services, a pharmacy benefits manager, from Eli Lilly & Co.Rite Aid has been aggressively expanding through acquisitions and store openings in recent years to keep up with larger rivals Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp.

Rite Aid Corp. has narrowed its search for a mammoth East Coast distribution site to Maryland and Virginia, setting the stage for a regional dogfight for as many as 1,000 new jobs.If Rite Aid, the nation's largest drugstore chain, selects Maryland for the roughly $50 million project, that would strengthen its ranking as one of the state's largest private-sector employers. Rite Aid, with 174 stores and a technology center in Hunt Valley, currently employs more than 2,800 here.Including the distribution jobs, Rite Aid's employment would rival that of the General Motors Corp.

Jack Eckerd Corp., an aggressive Florida-based drugstore chain, won the bidding contest for the long-bankrupt Revco drugstore chain yesterday, just hours after Rite Aid Corp. walked away.Eckerd's winning bid will add 33 stores to the one it now operates in Maryland. The privately held company operates 1,678 stores in 13 states from Oklahoma and Texas to New Jersey and Delaware.With the acquisition of Revco, with 1,141 stores, Eckerd will become the biggest drugstore chain in the country.Eckerd, based in Clearwater, was considered the dark horse in the race after it finished last in the first round of voting by Revco creditors, which ended last Friday.

Drugstore giant Rite Aid Corp. will expand on Maryland's Eastern Shore and double its presence in Delaware by acquiring Edgehill Drugs Inc., the largest drugstore chain on the Delmarva Peninsula, Rite Aid said yesterday.The nation's third-largest drugstore operator, with more than $12 billion in annual sales, said it will add privately owned Edgehill's 25 stores to its empire.Rite Aid did not disclose the purchase price. The company is scheduled to close the deal March 2 and expects the acquisition to add to earnings starting with the first quarter of fiscal year 2000.

Rite Aid Corp. yesterday confirmed plans to build a nearly $70 million distribution center in Harford County that will employ at least 850, ranking the project as one of Maryland's largest job creators this decade.In selecting the Perryman section of Harford for its new warehouse, the Camp Hill, Pa.-based company becomes the latest in series of retailers and manufacturers, including Gap Inc., Time Warner Inc., Fila USA Inc. and Staples Inc., that have selected the state for major warehouse operations.