Rite Aid, which opened in Tehachapi around 1988 as a Thrifty Drug Store, is expected to close in June as the company with stores in 15 states is undergoing a second bankruptcy.
Signs at the store show that hours have been reduced and pharmacy customers are advised that effective June 24, their prescriptions will be moved to Sav-On Pharmacy, inside Albertsons at 775 Tucker Road, Tehachapi. Customers who do not want their prescriptions transferred to that location should make other arrangements.
Current store and pharmacy hours are 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Located on the southwest corner of Valley Boulevard and Tucker Road, the store has been an important anchor for Tehachapi’s first traditional shopping center. Tehachapi Towne Center once included a Blockbuster video store and a Sears Hometown Center in addition to Save Mart Supermarket and Rite Aid. Several locally-owned businesses have or are in the process of opening in the center, including an Anytime Fitness gym set for a grand opening on May 28.
In addition to Sav-On Pharmacy, Tehachapi is served by pharmacies at Walgreens and Walmart.
According to an undated posting on LoopNet, a commercial real estate website, the 16,324-square-foot building was constructed in 1988. The website stated that Rite Aid had “recently extended their lease until December of 2029.”
Drug store history
Thrifty Drug Store — later Rite Aid — was the first major chain drug store to locate in Tehachapi.
There are various reports about the town’s early history, with E.J.R. Nicholson reportedly opening the first drug store here in 1887 — he also published an early newspaper called the Summit Sun.
There were other drug stores through the years, some long-lasting and others not.
Reports from the 1952 earthquake include destruction of a drug store operated by Vaughn Squires. Tehachapi News reports show that Vaughn Squires Drug Company purchased the Frank T. Baumgart Drug Store in Tehachapi on Oct. 1, 1936. “Who’s Who in Kern County,” published in 1940, reported that Baumgart purchased the Globe Drug Store, Tehachapi, in 1927. Baumgart had owned drug stores in other states dating back to 1895. In addition to being Mayor of Tehachapi, he owned other businesses, including a partnership in the BeeKay Theatre.
Globe Drug Store opened in Tehachapi in February 1925 as a branch of a Bakersfield pharmacy with the same name.
After the earthquake, Squires, a pharmacist since 1929, purchased the former Tehachapi Inn property and built a commercial structure that now houses the Tehachapi Hitching Post Theater and Perfetto Italian Restaurant. He operated a Rexall Drug Store at the southwest corner of Green and F streets until J. B. Edmiston bought the store from him in the 1960s. Edmiston operated J.B.’s Rexall Drug store there until 1978 when it became Gong’s, owned by Peter and Gloria McCain Gong.
A family member said the Gongs closed the store and transferred prescriptions to Kmart in 1992. Kmart opened in Tehachapi in January 1993 and closed in December 2019.
In addition to the downtown drug store, a pharmacy opened in the Old Towne Center in 1978.
Melissa Mattern Uimari said her father, Jim Mattern, and his friend, Carl Glover, opened and operated Sav-Mor Drug Store there from 1978 until they sold it to Eve Geisler around 1990. Exactly when Geisler closed the store could not be determined.
