Rite Aid to Grow by 125 Stores

New York City, Rite Aid Corp. announced Friday that it plans to open 125 new and relocated stores in 2008. The growth is part of an expansion plan that calls for nearly 1,000 stores over the next five years.

Rite Aid is in the process of acquiring more than 1,800 Brooks and Eckerd stores in a deal worth almost $3 billion. The transaction will make Rite Aid the largest drug store operator on the East Coast.

In other news, Rite Aid’s chief executive, Mary Sammons, received compensation valued at $4.6 million in its last fiscal year, the company said in a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.