Susan Schulman, a reporter for the Buffalo News, has written a news piece that suggests a new use for those Rite Aid stores that have shut down in Buffalo. According to Schulman, there are “a growing number of empty Rite Aid building dotting the landscape” in Buffalo and surrounding communities. On Hertel Avenue in Buffalo. At Kenmore and Starin Avenues. At Harlem Road in Cheektowaga. Some folks says it progress, but Cheektowaga town supervisor Dennis Gabryszak says its just “bizarre”. “We have one on Harlem and Genessee Streets open for over a year,” says Gabryszak. “About 1,000 yards down the road is one that is still vacant.” “Maybe it is progress,” Schulman writes, “but along the way, Rite Aid is leaving a trail. First there was the decision a few years back to close two Buffalo stores — and to replace them with one mega drive-in Rite Aid less than a mile from each.” But as for the new use for closed stores, the Hertel Avenue Rite Aid in Buffalo was used by headquarters for former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato’s campaign headquarters. Now that D-Amato has lost his bid to remain in the U.S. Senate, it’s not clear if other politicians will find used Rite Aid stores as convenient headquarters. Apparently there are enough empty Rite Aids in the Buffalo area to accomodate a large delegation of New York’s Senate. All of which goes to show that old politicians never die, they just Rite Aid away.
Got an empty Rite Aid in your hometown, or one that you hope someday will be empty? Contact your local political party and suggest that they turn it into party headquarters. Interested politicians looking for cheap space can contact Rite Aid at its Camp Hill, PA headquarters.
