The Budget-Friendly Ice Cream Chain That's Closing 500 Locations

Bad news, ice cream lovers: this summer, you might be losing one of your favorite spots to get a scoopy of creamy sweetness. The Los Angeles Times reported that Thrifty Ice Cream, located within Rite Aid stores across America, will be closing nearly 500 stores later on this year. Fans of Thrifty are mourning the news as the budget-conscious ice cream is part of the collateral damage from Rite Aid's recent announcement of shuddering locations nationwide amidst Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the second filing in two years.

Rite Aid released a statement that the company's next steps involve "pursuing a Strategic and Value-Maximizing Sale Process" with the help of $1.94 billion in fresh financing. Even as the chain plans to continue to provide access to pharmacy experts and prescription drugs, as well as household products, cutbacks during the restructuring overhaul were inevitable. Unfortunately, Thrifty ice cream was deemed as a part of Rite Aid that could be sacrificed in the process.

Thrifty ice cream has been around for over 80 years. It was originally produced in a small factory and sold at the flagship Thrifty Drug Store in Los Angeles starting in 1940. Over the next few decades, Thrifty gained popularity and grew into a well-known brand that dominated the West Coast in the 1970s.

Thrifty went through a number of acquisitions and sales during the 20th century. Rite Aid eventually bought the drug store chain in 1996, leaving only the ice cream brand available for purchase in store, eventually selling off the production to Albertsons in 2018.

As Geek Spin pointed out, Thrifty gained notoriety for two unique offerings when it came to their ice cream: square shaped scoops that were their signature way of serving the brand's frozen treats and their one-of-a-kind flavors that kept reinventing themselves over time. For many loyal customers, Thrifty will always be a place for affordable ice cream that was a cut above other brands.

Rite Aid is not the only pharmacy chain that is undergoing economic hard times. CVS announced the closure of over 250 stores nationwide in 2025 as the company struggled to keep physical doors open while many customers opted for purchasing their prescription medications online. In addition to the 500 location closures planned for this year, Rite Aid has already announced it would shut down all 178 locations in New York state earlier this year.

Rite Aid held the title of America's third-largest independently owned pharmacy chain and even though it's reduced its store count by 50% since 2023, the company plans to close all brick-and-mortar outlets by the middle of 2025 according to NewsWeek.

While Thrifty ice cream itself cannot be sold as a separate asset in the bankruptcy process due to the locations themselves being within Rite Aid pharmacies, fans can still purchase cartons in store at grocery outlets that stock it.