The Rite Aid stores in Cullman will be closing in June.

The move comes after Rite Aid Corp. announced in 2017 it was transferring hundreds of stores to Walgreens.

Local stores are located in Cullman Shopping Center and U.S. 31 South. An employee at one of the local stores said prescriptions would be transferred to Walgreens unless a customer chooses another pharmacy.

The U.S. 31 store will close June 11 while the other plans to close by June 19.

“We anticipated this was likely coming because of the articles we’ve read since last year,” said Cullman Economic Development Agency Project Coordinator Susan Eller. “While we regret the loss of these stores, we feel it will also open the door to another retailer joining our community.”

Rite Aid had transferred 625 stores and related assets to Walgreens by January this year and received cash proceeds that it is using to repay all of its $970 million of outstanding secured loans. Under the Asset Purchase Agreement, Walgreens will purchase a total of 1,932 stores, three distribution centers and related inventory from Rite Aid.