Rite Aid Says GNC Deal Runs Through 2021, Not 2022
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019...ough-2021/
Rite Aid says it will extend its two-decade-old partnership with the health product and nutritional supplement store GNC through 2021 — not 2022 — as the pharmacy chain originally announced two weeks ago.
Rite Aid called its new press release on the GNC partnership a “corrected version due to multiple revisions.” The release said the correction was by Rite Aid and GNC.
The new statement was issued Thursday, replacing the old statement posted Feb. 19. The pharmacy chain said there are about 2,200 “GNC store-within-a-store locations” operating in Rite Aids across the country.
"Our more than 20-year partnership with GNC has provided Rite Aid with a key point of differentiation in the marketplace while strengthening our reputation as a health and wellness destination for our customers," Bill Renz, Rite Aid senior vice president of category management said in the new statement.
Rite Aid wouldn’t disclose financial terms of the GNC partnership, which was discussed briefly earlier this week by GNC’s top executive during the company’s fourth-quarter call to discuss earnings. “We recently extended our 20-year relationship with Rite Aid for another three years and gained more flexibility to partner with retailers in different channels,” said GNC chairman and CEO Ken Martindale, according to a transcript of that call.
The majority of the GNC’s are inside Rite Aid’s wellness stores, which are part of the company’s strategy to compete regionally with CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance and other retail pharmacies tapping into the healthcare business. Rite Aid operates 2,500 stores in 19 states, but most are concentrated in 7 states including California on the West Coast and Pennsylvania in the East Coast.