Drug store chain Rite Aid will exit Greater Cincinnati this week when it closes seven stores and sells another six outlets to rival CVS.

CLOSINGS & SWAPS

• Rite Aid stores closing by Wednesday: 1198 W. Galbraith Road, Finneytown; 5795 Cheviot Road, Cheviot; Forest Park Plaza; 11850 Hamilton Ave., Springfield Township; Franklin; Taylor Mill and Dayton, Ky.   • CVS stores that will close by Wednesday: 2038 Beechmont Ave., Mount Washington; 458 Ohio Pike, Liberty Township; 6127 Hamilton Ave., College Hill; 7217 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, West Chester; 5011 Vine St., St. Bernard; Northgate Mall; and 717 Reading Road, Mason; Springdale.   • Rite Aid locations that CVS will take over: Reading; Morrow; Georgetown; Bethel; Amelia and Falmouth.

        Rhode Island-based CVS also will close seven Cincinnati-area stores as part of a drug store swap that includes CVS taking control of all prescriptions generated by Rite Aid in Greater Cincinnati.

        Both chains say the moves are an effort to shed less profitable stores as they slug it out with Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co. for supremacy in the retail drug store business.

        “In order to strengthen our portfolio, we are looking to close underperforming stores as part of our turnaround plan,” said Rite Aid spokeswoman Sarah Datz.

        Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid has closed more than 200 stores since 1999 as it attempts to cut costs.

        The drug store chain has largely sat idle in Cincinnati over the last couple of years as competitors CVS and Walgreen jockey for new store locations.

        The turf war has left many older strip malls searching for anchor stores to replace CVS or Walgreen. The drug chains prefer to develop new drive-through stores at high-traffic corner locations.

        The CVS-Rite Aid swap also will leave many older strip locations without anchor tenants.

        The swap won't change Walgreen's area expansion plans, spokesman Michael Polzin said. The chain will open about five stores in Greater Cincinnati this year as part of a nationwide plan to add 475 stores in 2002.

        Ms. Datz said Rite Aid will sell the closed stores it owns over the next several weeks.

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