Rite Aid Corp. will be opening a new “enterprise headquarters” in Philadelphia that will serve the drug chain’s needs for in-person collaboration and company gatherings, rather than office space. The Camp Hill, PA company will likely sell some or all of its current Central Pennsylvania headquarters offices located at 30 Hunter Lane; 200 Newberry Commons in Newberry Township, York County; 451 St. Johns Church Road in Hampden Township; and at 433 Railroad Avenue in Hampden Township, although no specific decisions on current real estate have yet been finalized. However, in a statement to pennlive.com, Rite Aid’s VP-communications Jeff Olson said that the drug chain will continue to maintain a collaboration hub in the Camp Hill and Harrisburg area.
“This announcement signals the start of a bright new day at Rite Aid. We’re changing our business from the inside out, and our reimagined workplace is the latest exciting step toward the future of this company,” said Rite Aid CEO Heyward Donigan. “We believe in remote work, and as we lean into it for the long term, we are investing in a physical footprint that will facilitate its best version. We’ve heard directly from our associates that teams want and need to meet in-person, and we think we’ve found the right balance between the flexibility of remote work and the power of on-site collaboration.”
The new Philadelphia enterprise offices will be located in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard district at 1200 Intrepid Avenue. The new facility provides space for teams encompassing Rite Aid’s various businesses – including Rite Aid retail, Elixir, Health Dialog and Bartell Drugs to meet, collaborate, and engage clients and partners. The company has leased about 23,000 square feet of the 92,000 square-foot building and is currently working on the buildout.
Rite Aid corporate associates, who have been working remotely since the early days of the pandemic, provided an integral voice in the new workplace model, said the drug retailer. An internal survey found a vast majority of corporate associates preferred working from home, highlighting greater flexibility, work-life balance and more productivity. Associates also indicated a desire to have opportunities to meet, collaborate and learn together in-person. In response to associate feedback, the company is formalizing its work-from-home approach with thoughtfully structured policies, new technology, resources, and spaces to support meaningful collaboration across the enterprise. The company added that wherever they choose to work remotely, Rite Aid’s growing team of more than 2,800 corporate associates are united by a purpose-driven approach that is guided by the organization’s core values.
“This transformation of our workforce brings Rite Aid into the modern era of work. We can recruit the best talent regardless of their location, and we can give our corporate associates the freedom and flexibility that today’s workers crave,” said Jim Peters, chief operating officer, Rite Aid. “Our new headquarters and collaboration centers will have a unifying effect on our enterprise and serve as an important space for our teams to be together when needed. I think it’s especially meaningful that these changes were shaped by our associates, whose input we solicited along the way – this approach aligns with one of our core values: get there together.”