Walk past the intersection of Gage Boulevard and Steptoe Street today and you’ll see a familiar shell of a building. It’s a sight that has become all too common across the Tri-Cities. The Rite Aid Steptoe Kennewick location—specifically at 1901 North Steptoe Street—didn't just close its doors; it was part of a massive, nationwide collapse that changed how many of us in Washington get our medicine.
Honestly, the closure felt sudden to some, but for anyone watching the shelves get thinner over the last couple of years, the writing was on the wall. By July 1, 2025, the lights were out for good.
Why the Steptoe Location Folded
It wasn’t just one thing. Most people point to the bankruptcy, which is the easy answer, but the reality is way more tangled. Rite Aid had been swimming in debt for years, partly due to massive legal settlements involving the opioid crisis and partly because it just couldn't keep up with the Amazon-style convenience of the 2020s.
💡 You might also like: Mississippi Taxpayer Access Point: How to Use TAP Without the Headache
When the company filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2025, the goal was to sell off everything. If a store wasn't making a specific profit margin or if a buyer didn't want the lease, it was toast. The Rite Aid Steptoe Kennewick store fell into that "liquidation" category.
- Inventory issues: Toward the end, vendors wouldn't ship products unless they were paid upfront. That’s why you probably saw those rows of empty shelves or weirdly spaced-out boxes of tissue.
- The CVS deal: CVS Health stepped in to buy many of the prescription files, but they didn't necessarily want the physical buildings.
- Operating costs: Large-format drugstores are expensive to run, and with nearby competition from Costco and Safeway on Gage, the math just didn't work anymore.
Where Your Prescriptions Actually Went
If you were a regular at the Steptoe pharmacy, you probably got a text or a letter that felt a little frantic. Most of the files from the Rite Aid Steptoe Kennewick location were officially transferred to the CVS Pharmacy inside Target at 1106 N. Columbia Center Blvd.
📖 Related: 60 Pounds to USD: Why the Rate You See Isn't Always the Rate You Get
It’s a bit of a trek compared to just popping into the corner store on Steptoe. Many locals ended up manually transferring their records to the Safeway (Sav-On) or the Walgreens on Gage Boulevard because, frankly, having a drive-thru matters when you’re sick.
The Current State of Tri-Cities Rite Aid
As of early 2026, the brand is basically a ghost in Washington. The "nearly 24-hour" Rite Aid on Ely Street in Kennewick was the last one holding on for a while, but even that transitioned into a CVS in August 2025.
👉 See also: Manufacturing Companies CFO Challenges: Why the Old Playbook is Failing
Basically, the era of the freestanding Rite Aid in our area is over. The buildings are sitting empty, and while there's always rumors about a Trader Joe's or a new gym moving into these prime spots, the Steptoe location remains a reminder of how quickly retail giants can vanish.
Steps to Take if You Still Need Records
If you haven't filled a script since the closure and are just now realizing your "hometown" pharmacy is gone, you aren't totally out of luck.
- Check with CVS first: Since they bought the files for the Steptoe store, your history is likely in their system, even if you never stepped foot in the Columbia Center Target.
- Use the Rite Aid Archive: The corporate website still maintains a portal for immunization records and historical prescription data for a limited time.
- Contact your doctor: If all else fails, your prescribing physician is the fastest way to get a "clean" script sent to a pharmacy that actually has its lights on.
The closure of Rite Aid Steptoe Kennewick was more than a business headline—it was a loss of convenience for the thousands of people living in the surrounding subdivisions. Now, it’s just another empty lot in a city that’s growing faster than its infrastructure can sometimes keep up with.
Actionable Next Steps:
Check your current prescription bottles for any remaining refills. If they list the Steptoe address, call the CVS at (509) 737-1700 to confirm your records were successfully migrated. If you prefer a pharmacy with a drive-thru, you will need to physically visit a new location (like the Walgreens on Gage) and request a manual transfer before your next refill date.