The new, 14,000 square foot Rite-Aid store that opened at Lewis Road and Main Street in Royersford last week is a "consolidation" of the two Rite-Aid stores formerly located on Bridge Street in Spring City and Buckwalter Road in Limerick, the company said today.

Rite-Aid spokesman Eric Harkreader said that the two stores had "approximately 15-20" employees between them, and that the new store "is staffed with almost entirely the same team."

If the store does well, there is the possibility that the store could hire additional employees in the coming months, Harkreader said. The company said the new store has twice the space of the two former locations and is "similar to remodels the company has been doing over the last seven years" in response to customer feedback.

The closure of the Buckwalter Road location opens another hole in the increasingly vacant Limerick Square shopping complex which, 15 years ago, was arguably the new commercial center of the Spring-Ford area. The complex was hit earlier this year by the closure of its anchor store, a Genuardi's supermarket. 

The closure of the Bridge Street store deals an arguably more significant blow to Spring City's small downtown area. The store was a popular shopping spot for low income seniors in the nearby Flag House apartment building. 

Harkreader noted that unlike the old stores, the new store offers a prescription delivery service.

Rite-Aid operates about 4,700 stores in 31 states. The company earned $26.1 billion in revenue during the last fiscal year.