Safeway is closing its pharmacy in Newport on Tuesday and then will shutter the entire store July 25, ending work there for 69 employees. (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)

By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/ Lincoln Chronicle

NEWPORT – Safeway will officially shutter its grocery store in July, leaving 69 employees without a job and Newport short yet another pharmacy.

While another grocery store plans to take its place and Samaritan Health Services will be building a new pharmacy in Newport, there will be some time before either open their doors.

Safeway’s official closing date was announced through the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed Tuesday. Some employees may continue working at the location after it closes to the public, the notice said, and others will have the opportunity to work at another Safeway.

The pharmacy inside the grocery store is closing Tuesday, June 2, and the entire store will close to the public July 25.

Jones

“It’s really impactful for the community,” Megan Jones, director of outpatient pharmacy services at Samaritan Health Services, said Wednesday. “The community has lost several pharmacies in the past few years so I’d be anticipating longer lines and having to rely on health providers for medications.”

Last year, Rite Aid closed its stores in Newport and Lincoln City.

Oregon has the second worst ranking for pharmacy access in the nation and everywhere there is a trend of pharmacy closures.

Mostly it’s because of a “reimbursement crunch” Jones said. Medication costs continue to increase and don’t keep pace with reimbursements, so pharmacies are often losing money on prescriptions. This can be especially prevalent when there is a higher percentage of Medicaid patients, she said.

Last year, Samaritan opened a pharmacy adjacent to its hospital in Lincoln City. Before Safeway’s closure, the healthcare provider already had plans to bring another pharmacy to Newport, right next door to its hospital.

Jones said the Samaritan pharmacy in Newport would open late 2026 to early 2027. Knowing that Newport is down another pharmacy, she said, there is an increased urgency to open the pharmacy as soon as possible.

“We want the community to know that Samaritan will work to fill in the gap before a pharmacy opens,” she said, “We have mail services and will work creatively to get patients their medications.”

The Safeway grocery at 2220 N. Coast Highway in Newport will close July 25 and eventually replaced by a Waremart by WinCo store. (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)Another grocery store

Safeway employees have known since February that Safeway would close this summer before an official layoff notice was filed this week.  Since then, rumors have been circulating about the building and what is planned to take its place.

WinCo signed a lease with shopping center owner Dickerhoof Properties to use the 32,000 square foot portion of the building that currently houses Safeway with plans to bring a Waremart to the location. Waremart by WinCo stores are significantly smaller and are not open 24 hours like the average WinCo grocery.

Safeway’s lease will end in August and a Waremart by WinCo will begin its lease the following month, according to property owner Darren Dickerhoof. Although there have been rumors that Winco backed out of the deal, Dickerhoof said that isn’t the case.

“Safeway gives us the building back on Aug. 31,” Dickerhoof told the Lincoln Chronicle. “After that WinCo will need to get their plans done and get permits for an interior remodel for their Waremart brand.”

Dickerhoof Properties owns the shopping center that houses Safeway, Ace Hardware and other businesses. The family-owned company has roots in Corvallis and has retail properties in mid-sized Oregon cities including Bandon, Klamath Falls and McMinnville.

The space that houses Rite Aid has been leased to a national clothing store chain but they do not want to open until Waremart is open, Dickerhoof said. Both stores should be open next spring or summer, he said.

Winco headquarters in Idaho was not able to confirm their plans to the Chronicle on Wednesday. The city of Newport has no formal permit applications for either the Safeway or the Rite Aid spaces, according to city officials.

Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, Newport, education, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]