Santee Rite Aid Set to Close, Liquidation Sale Coming

The at the corner of Mission Gorge Road and Cuyamaca Street will be closing its doors on Friday, only to reopen for a liquidation sale on April 1, and close for good a couple weeks later.

Eric Harkreader, a spokesman for Rite Aid, said the store and the property manager weren't able to come to an agreement over the lease extension and once the lease was up, a decision was made to close the store.

Friday is the last day of regular business, and the pharmacy will close for good. Rite Aid's pharmacy clientele records will be transferred across the street to the . Beginning April 1, they will be liquidating the non-pharmacy part of store for next couple weeks, or until enough inventory is sold.

An employee of the Plaza de Cuyamaca Rite Aid indicated that reason for the upcoming closure was mainly based on a rent increase that property managers were seeking- purportedly up to double the previous rent price. She also said that other small shops in the center were facing challenging rent increases, and the , it closed down about a week ago, with a sign on the door indicating an intent to reopen in a new location.

The recent upgrade to the facade of the Petco store, remodel of the storefront and remodel of the in the Plaza, and pressure for other stores to follow suit, were cited by the Rite Aid employee as reasons for the rent increase.

Representatives of the Smokers Outlet could not be reached to verify reasons behind their move.