In the fall of 2023, I was standing at a Whatcom Transit Authority bus stop in Fairhaven at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue when an older man living in the Chuckanut Square apartments approached me and asked for transit directions to the Rite Aid at Sehome Village. He told me his prescriptions had recently been transferred there from Rite Aid’s Downtown Bellingham location at Cornwall Avenue & E. Magnolia Street, which had closed that September.

From Fairhaven — and most other neighborhoods in the city — Rite Aid’s downtown pharmacy had been an easy bus ride to Bellingham Station and a one-block walk to the store location. To reach his prescriptions at Sehome Village, the man assumed he needed to go downtown and then transfer to another bus route to reach the Rite Aid near Interstate 5’s interchange with Samish Way. “I don’t go over that way too often, so I’m not sure,” he said.

I told him that he could reach Sehome Village from Fairhaven using WTA’s Route 105, albeit from a less-than-ideal bus stop, at 14th Street & Old Fairhaven Parkway along State Route 11. The 105, which runs once an hour, was departing its Fairhaven terminus in a few minutes. While I wasn’t sure he’d make it in time and told him as much, he quickly concluded the conversation and booked it over to the 105. He turned and waved. “Thank you!”  

I think back on that encounter from two years ago in Fairhaven as more Rite Aid prescriptions from two soon-to-close Bellingham locations are being reassigned. In May, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court OK’d CVS Health’s bid to acquire the prescription files of 625 Rite Aid pharmacies across 15 states, as well 64 Rite Aid stores in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, including locations in Bellingham.

Local media reports, including in the Cascadia Daily News, Bellingham Herald and Bellingham Metro News, have recently detailed the upcoming prescription shuffles around town with the upcoming closures of the Rite Aid locations on Northwest Avenue in Birchwood and at Sunset Square shopping center. 

Prescriptions from the Northwest Avenue location are being moved to CVS Health inside Target at Bellis Fair Mall. Meanwhile, prescriptions from Rite Aid’s Sunset Square location are moving to Sehome Village. 

For those who drive, the changes in pharmacy locations, while annoying, may not necessarily be that big of a deal. But for non-driving Bellinghamsters who rely on transit, accessing their prescriptions at pharmacies on the city’s suburban periphery involves far more planning and in many cases, a bus transfer.

From Birchwood to Bellis Fair Mall

The closure of the Rite Aid on Northwest Avenue means that not only is Bellingham’s Birchwood neighborhood a notable grocery desert, it’ll also be part of the city’s growing pharmacy desert. Prescriptions from this Rite Aid pharmacy location will be shifted to the CVS Health inside Target at Bellis Fair Mall.

The Rite Aid location on Northwest Avenue in Bellingham, seen here from a passing Route 232 bus.
The Rite Aid location on Northwest Avenue in Bellingham, seen here from a passing Route 232 bus, is closing soon. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

For non-drivers living in or near Birchwood losing their closest pharmacy, they’ll need to take a Route 18 or 232 bus to Cordata Station, transfer to either Route 15 or 331, and then go one stop to Bellis Fair Mall. Walking to Route 15 on Meridian Street is also an option for some. 

Although WTA offers pretty good transit service to Bellis Fair Mall, especially since it’s along the frequent service Gold GO Line corridor, there isn’t necessarily good pedestrian access between the WTA bus stop on Bellis Fair Parkway and the mall itself. There’s no way to avoid crossing a sea of largely empty, unshaded asphalt parking lots. While you can enter the mall via the Macy’s department store near the bus stop, Target is located on the opposite end of the mall complex. 

A largely empty shopping mall parking lot outside a Macy's location. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)
To reach the CVS Health location inside the Target at Bellis Fair Mall from the WTA bus stops on Bellis Fair Parkway, you either have to cut through Macy's or traverse a large expanse of asphalt parking on the north side of the mall complex. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

Walking along the mall’s Bellis Fair Parkway periphery between the WTA bus stops and Target is about one-third of a mile. (For reference, it’s about one-third of a mile from Bellingham Station to the Bellingham Farmers Market along Railroad Avenue, which offers far more shade than the sun-exposed parking lots of Bellis Fair.)   

From Sunset Square to Sehome Village

For prescriptions at Rite Aid’s soon-to-close Sunset Square location, CVS Health is transferring them to the Rite Aid’s Sehome Village location, which will be rebranded as a CVS. While it’s a quick drive along I-5 from Sunset Square to Sehome Village, those relying on transit have a more daunting journey.

There’s no WTA bus route that directly connects Sunset Square with Sehome Village. While there are multiple options involving transfers either downtown at Bellingham Station or at Lakeway Drive & Lincoln Street, it’s at least a 40-minute journey via transit. 

The Rite Aid location at Sehome Village, seen here from a passing Route 105 bus, will be rebranded as a CVS. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

In fact, for Rite Aid pharmacy customers at Sunset Square using transit, the CVS Health location at the Bellis Fair Target will likely be more convenient than Sehome Square if they want to keep their prescriptions within the CVS Health system. It’s about 10 minutes by bus from Sunset Square to Bellis Fair Mall along Route 331, which forms the Gold GO line frequent service corridor. 

Fortunately, Sunset Square has two other pharmacy options nearby the soon-to-shutter Rite Aid: Next door at Safeway and Walgreens at Sunset Drive & Barkley Boulevard. (The Safeway is far closer to the Route 331 bus stops at Sunset Square than the Walgreens.)  

Understanding the Geography of Bellingham’s Expanding Pharmacy Deserts 

Looking at Bellingham and local pharmacy access, I-5 is an important dividing line to keep in mind. With Rite Aid’s departure from Northwest Avenue, there will be five pharmacy locations inside the freeway’s arc through the city: Two Haggen grocery store pharmacy locations, on 12th Street in Fairhaven and at Meridian Street & Illinois Street near Cornwall Memorial Park; a Walgreens on Samish Way; RxMart at Ellis Street & Sunset Drive, near PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, and the Sehome Village Rite Aid (soon to be CVS). Unity Care NW in Downtown Bellingham, a local non-profit community health provider, also has a pharmacy on Unity Street.

Bellingham’s nine remaining pharmacies are all north or east of I-5: Two Fred Meyer locations, on W. Bakerview Road and Lakeway Drive; Hoagland Pharmacy at Texas Avenue & Yew Street in Roosevelt; the Haggen grocery store at Barkley Village; Safeway and Walgreens at the Sunset Square shopping center; and in Cordata, CVS Health inside Target, Walmart, and Walgreens. 

While Bellingham’s suburban arc outside I-5 has more pharmacy choice, inside I-5, residents in many of the city’s central neighborhoods have far more limited choices. If Albertsons-owned Haggen ever closed its grocery stores and pharmacy locations in Fairhaven and on Meridian Street, the city’s pharmacy desert would grow considerably.

The sad downfall of Seattle’s much beloved Bartell pharmacy chain provides some clues as to why suburban pharmacy locations are sometimes less vulnerable to closure than more urban locations. In November 2023, after the Bartell chain was acquired by Rite Aid, The Seattle Times reported that Bartell locations were far more vulnerable to closures because at the time, only 24 of its 55 remaining locations had drive-thru pharmacy pick-up:

Given how important drive-thrus have become for sales and reducing costs, especially since the pandemic, that disparity could limit “the overall value” of Bartell locations, says Jeff Green, a retail analyst with Hoffman Strategy Group who follows the Seattle market.

Bartell, once a staple across Seattle, is now no more. 

A vacant building at Cornwall Avenue & E. Magnolia Street in Downtown Bellingham.
The Rite Aid location in Downtown Bellingham, at Cornwall Avenue & E. Magnolia Street, which closed in 2023, offered a very transit-accessible pharmacy location. The building has been vacant since Rite Aid's departure. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

While the Downtown Bellingham Rite Aid location had numerous challenges, including inconsistently stocked shelves and retail theft, the lack of a drive-thru pharmacy made it an easier choice to shutter. 

“It will be missed by those living downtown,” a Reddit user posted on r/Bellingham two years ago when Rite Aid announced its downtown closure. “The only one stop shop for downtown residents without having to get in the car to get to. … I’ll miss it and hope that the space doesn’t sit vacant for too long.”

Two years later, that location continues to sit vacant, Downtown Bellingham lacks a commercial pharmacy, and Bellinghamsters who rely on transit face more challenges with pharmacy access.