Another business will be closing in Chautauqua County.

Rite Aid officials said Monday that the chain is entering a second Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with Buffalo television stations WGRZ and WKBW reporting all of Rite Aid’s New York stores will close. There are 73 Rite Aid locations in Western New York that include stores on Fairmount Avenue in Ellicott and in Brooklyn Square, Jamestown. Rite Aid also owns stores at 1166 Central Ave., Dunkirk, and 3795 E Main Road, Fredonia. There also are locations in Mayville, Silver Creek, Gowanda and Angola.

Concord Pharmacy in Fredonia, in a Facebook post, urged Rite Aid customers to consider options for the future. “One of the most immediate items we can share is that at some point in the very near future, your prescriptions will be bought out by another organization, if you don’t select a new pharmacy of your own choosing,” the post said. “You have the option, and right, to transfer your prescriptions to any new pharmacy of your choosing now. That allows you to choose the people who will care for you at your new pharmacy, not just be placed at one without knowing ahead of time who that will be.”

Rite Aid officials said Monday that the company will work to ensure that customer prescriptions are transferred to other pharmacies as it goes through the sale process. The drugstore chain has lined up from some of its lenders $1.94 billion in new financing which helps fund stores remaining open through the sale and bankruptcy proceedings.

An initial statement from Rite Aid said stores will remain open through the bankruptcy process, but a letter obtained by the Buffalo televisions stations said all New York stores are closing, with layoffs starting June 4.

The company initially filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2023, with plans to sell parts of its business and restructure. The company ran more than 2,300 stores in 17 states before the filing.

Rite Aid said then that its initial voluntary Chapter 11 filing would allow it to slash debt and resolve litigation. The company sold its relatively small pharmacy benefits management business, Elixir Solutions, for around $576 million.

Rite Aid emerged from Chapter 11 nearly a year later as a private company. The drugstore chain said in a statement that it came out of the process stronger, “with a rightsized store footprint, more efficient operating model, significantly less debt and additional financial resources.”

Rite Aid’s creditors took ownership of the chain, which shrank to 1,245 stores in 15 states, according to its website.

A spokeswoman said in March that the company was “laser focused” on its retail pharmacies, including restocking its stores.

But in early May, empty white shelves dotted a store that sits a few miles from Rite Aid’s corporate headquarters in Philadelphia, according to the Associated Press. That’s been a sight in the area stores as well.

Retail analyst Neil Saunders told the Associated Press such a look encourages shoppers not to return.

“They’re actively pushing customers away,” said Saunders, managing director of the consulting and data analysis firm GlobalData.

Rite Aid was attempting to turn around its business in a tough environment for drugstores. Major chains and independent pharmacies have been closing stores and struggling with several challenges.

Prescription profitability has grown tight. The chains also are dealing with increased theft, court settlements over opioid prescriptions and shoppers who are drifting more to online shopping and discount retailers.

Walgreens, which has more than six times as many stores as Rite Aid, agreed in March to be acquired by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

Philadelphia-based Rite Aid was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as Thrif D Discount Center. The company had struggled with debt, posted annual losses for several years and was cutting costs and closing stores well before its initial bankruptcy filing.

Rite Aid also explored sale offers.

Walgreens attempted to buy it for about $9.4 billion a decade ago, when Rite Aid ran more than 4,600 stores. But the larger drugstore chain eventually scaled back its ambition and bought less than half that total to get the deal past antitrust regulators.

In 2018, Rite Aid called off a separate merger with the grocer Albertsons.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report