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5th metro Detroit drugstore closes and customers think they know why

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5th metro Detroit drugstore closes and customers think they know why


The recent news that a busy Rite Aid store in Midtown Detroit will soon be closing — reportedly because of theft — was disappointing for some longtime shoppers, although not a big surprise to everyone.

Detroit resident Aaron Boone, 61, recalled how he was standing in the checkout line a few months ago when he saw a man simply walk out of the store without paying for a large pack of beer.

“He (came) right there like he was going to pay for a 30-pack of beer, and he walked right out,” Boone said. “It’s terrible, man.”

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The Rite Aid at 4612 Woodward is among the latest batch of “underperforming” stores that the drugstore chain has made plans to close since filing for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy last fall. The Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid chain intends to stay in business, but with hundreds fewer of the 2,000 stores and retail pharmacies that it had last year in 17 states.

More: Village-like Core City development in Detroit expands with new duplexes, restaurant

A Rite Aid corporate spokesperson didn’t give the specific reasons why it was decided to close the Woodward Avenue location. However, store staff have been telling customers that theft was a reason. One employee, who did not provide their name, told the Free Press last week that theft was among the reasons for the closure.

The store at one time stationed a security guard near the entrance. However, the guard wasn’t directed to chase after suspected shoplifters and therefore didn’t deter all of the theft, one staffer told a customer. Some of the more expensive merchandise in the store, including laundry detergents and hair regrowth products, are placed behind locked shelves.

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The landlord of the building said Rite Aid had been a tenant for 20 years and didn’t specify why it is leaving. The store is on the ground floor of an Albert Kahn-designed building that is over 100 years old and has 56 residential apartments.

“We don’t know why they left. Frankly, their sales were going up every year,” Christine Jonna, of Bloomfield Hills-based Jonna Companies, said Monday. “It wasn’t a matter of rent; we even offered them a sweeter deal.”

The Federal Trade Commission in December barred Rite Aid from using facial recognition technology in its stores for five years in a settlement for allegations that the drugstore chain’s efforts to stop known shoplifters from entering its stores resulted in false accusations toward innocent shoppers, particularly people of color. The FTC claimed Rite Aid had at one time deployed the facial recognition technology in multiple states, including Michigan.

Once the doors shut next month, the Midtown Detroit Rite Aid will become at least the fifth drugstore to close in the past six or seven years along a stretch of Woodward Avenue running through Detroit and Highland Park.

The other shuttered pharmacy stores include:

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  • A CVS at 10301 Woodward Ave. that closed in 2019 and briefly became a charter school.
  • A CVS at 7451 Woodward Ave. that closed in 2018 or early 2019 and is now a Happy Pizza.
  • A CVS at 14140 Woodward Ave. in Highland Park that closed in 2019 or 2020 and is now a Family Furniture store.
  • A Walgreens at 14048 Woodward Ave. in Highland Park that closed in about 2017 and is now a Family Dollar.

Asked about its past store closures, a CVS spokesman said many factors are taken into consideration when deciding to shut a location, including “local market dynamics, population shifts, store density and other access points to meet the community’s health and wellness needs.”

Nationwide, drugstore chains have been closing various urban locations in recent years amid a rise in thefts and robberies. And retailer Target last fall said that theft and “organized retail crime” that threatened the safety of employees prompted their decision to close nine stores in four states.

A representative for the nonprofit community and development group Midtown Detroit Inc. said they haven’t done any recent formal surveys of area retailers on the subject of theft.

“It never feels good to see a staple store that supports community members in our neighborhoods close, especially as this isn’t just a Midtown Detroit issue, but an example of what is happening across the country,” Maureen Stapleton, the group’s interim director, said in a statement. “We will certainly continue to monitor this situation and observe if there are some lessons learned to ensure we take the proper steps — within our control — to prevent this from happening again.”

The Rite Aid store closure, set to happen March 25 for the pharmacy and April 21 for the store, will be an inconvenience for residents such as Ross Consuegra, 67, who said he will likely transfer his prescriptions to a 24-hour CVS that is in the general area at the corner of Brush Street and East Warren Avenue.

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“So I got my options,” Consuegra said. “But for other people, it’s very disappointing.”

More than two dozen Rite Aid locations in Michigan have closed or will be closing as part of the company’s ongoing reorganization. The Rite Aid website says there are now about 1,700 total stores.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl.





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Detroit, MI

Bruce Campbell announces cancer diagnosis; ‘Fear not,’ he tells fans

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Bruce Campbell announces cancer diagnosis; ‘Fear not,’ he tells fans



Treatment will delay the Royal Oak-born actor’s plans to tour his new film ‘Ernie & Emma’ this summer.

Royal Oak-born movie star and cult hero Bruce Campbell announced on social media on Monday that he has been diagnosed cancer — a type that is “treatable” but not “curable,” he said.

“I apologize if that’s a shock — it was to me too,” the “Evil Dead” star, 67, wrote in a message posted to Instagram.

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He went on to say “I’m not gonna go into any more detail,” and he didn’t. He said the public announcement had to do with scaling back appearances on his schedule, including tour dates behind his latest film, “Ernie & Emma.”

Campbell planned to show the movie June 5 at the Redford Theatre; as of Monday night, that date is still on the Redford schedule, but Campbell wrote in his note he plans to get “as well as I possibly can over the summer so that I can tour with my new movie ‘Ernie & Emma’ this fall.”

The movie is written, directed by and stars Campbell as a man who goes on a journey following the death of his wife. Campbell produced the movie alongside his wife, Ida Gearon, and filmed it in Oregon, where he now lives.

Campbell told The News in January he dedicated “Ernie & Emma” to his childhood moviemaking pals, including Scott Spiegel, who died of a heart attack in September 2025.

“It’s a callback to the carefree days of Super 8, where we could do whatever the f–k we wanted to do,” Campbell said of “Ernie & Emma.” “So I thought, ‘All the boys are responsible for this,’ so they’re all in there.”

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Campbell got his start making movies around Metro Detroit with his childhood pal, Sam Raimi. Campbell starred in Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy and has since appeared in most of Raimi’s films; Campbell makes a brief appearance in a photograph in the background of an early scene in Raimi’s latest, “Send Help.”

He’s also an author; Campbell’s autobiography “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor” was published in 2001.

In his post on social media, Campbell thanked fans and said he was not out to elicit sympathy.

“Fear not, I am a tough old son-of-a-bitch and I have great support, so I expect to be around for a while,” he wrote.

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agraham@detroitnews.com





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Michigan State Police sends message to drivers after trooper involved in hit and run:

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Michigan State Police sends message to drivers after trooper involved in hit and run:


“Slow down and move over” is the message that Michigan State Police is sending to drivers after one of its troopers in a parked patrol car was struck while investigating a crash this weekend. The driver of that vehicle fled the scene.

Michigan State Police tells CBS News Detroit that we’re two months into the year, and it has had six incidents across the state where patrol cars were struck by oncoming vehicles. One of those incidents occurred on Sunday evening.

“Could have been much more tragic,” said MSP Lieutenant Rene Gonzalez, First District public information officer.

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Michigan State Police


Gonzalez says on Sunday, an MSP trooper was near M-10 and Schaefer Highway in Detroit, simply doing his job, when his patrol car was hit from behind.

“Trooper was out there, and he was investigating a crash when, at the time, a Jeep SUV drove into the rear of the parked vehicle,” Gonzalez said.

The impact slid the trooper’s car into a concrete wall. The 29-year-old Detroit woman driving the Jeep SUV struck the center median, got out of the vehicle, and ran away.

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“Not sure why they did it. Maybe not paying attention if they were distracted. They’re attempting to locate her at this time,” said Lt. Gonzalez.

The trooper walked away with minor injuries. Gonzalez says this incident is an example of why Michigan’s Move Over Law was put in place many years ago. The law, which went into effect in 2019, requires drivers to move over into the next lane and reduce their speed by at least 10 mph when emergency or service vehicles — police, fire, rescue, ambulance and road service — have their lights activated. 

Drivers who are not able to move over are still required to reduce their speed.

“Trying to do our jobs, however, people are not paying attention. The law is easy. It’s simple. You see us, you see our lights activated, you have to slow down ten miles below the posted speed limit, and then if able, move over to the next occupied available lane,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez says crashes like this can be deadly and often avoided.

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“One life lost over something that was a totally preventable crash, it’s way too much. We’re asking that you slow down and move over when you see our lights. It’s a simple message that we’ve been pushing out for years,” he said.

Sunday’s crash remains under investigation. Michigan State Police detectives are still working to track down the 29-year-old suspect.

In the meantime, police are out enforcing the Move Over Law.



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Rex Satterfield’s 1956 Bel Air takes 2026 Ridler Award in Detroit

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Rex Satterfield’s 1956 Bel Air takes 2026 Ridler Award in Detroit


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Rex Satterfield hoped to see his 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible snag one of the BASF Great 8 finalist spots at this year’s Detroit Autorama. But winning the Ridler Award — one of the highest honors in the custom car business — was something he didn’t foresee.

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“It’s just overwhelming right now,” said the man from Russellville, Tennessee, as he left a ballroom at downtown’s Huntington Place and made his way back to the show floor on Sunday, March 1. “We weren’t expecting this.”

Getting a car recognized as one of the BASF Great 8 vehicles is a win in and of itself as they are considered the “absolute pinnacle of custom automotive craftsmanship worldwide,” according to the show. The cars undergo an intensive judging process.

And this effort had an unexpected and emotional complication with the passing in December 2024 of the original builder, Jeff Wolfenbarger, who was battling cancer even as he continued working on the car named “Elegant Lady.”

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Kevin Riffey of Kevin Riffey’s Hot Rods and Restorations in Knoxville stepped in to finish the work Wolfenbarger started. He’d had two other cars in the past make the Great 8. He said the goal with this vehicle was straightforward, calling it a “purpose-built show car.”

From its prominent spot at the front of the show floor, “Elegant Lady” sported a creamy exterior, dubbed Light Coffee. The car carries a 1,000 horsepower Don Hardy race engine. The gauges, wheels and gas tank are custom, and the dash is from a 1956 Pontiac.

Satterfield plans to show the car around some and enjoy the moment with it. He said he’s been a car guy since he was a little kid.

The Ridler Award, named in honor of Detroit Autorama’s first publicist, Don Ridler, comes with a $10,000 prize. It was awarded on the final day of this year’s Detroit Autorama, which ran Friday, Feb. 27-Sunday, March 1. This was the event’s 73rd year.

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Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Send your tips and suggestions about cool automotive stuff to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.



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