Rite Aid Makes Holiday Shopping Easy with Gift Guide & Seasonal Savings Programs

To help cash- and time-strapped shoppers, Rite Aid has simplified holiday shopping with an easy-to-use Holiday Gift Guide available in all stores, a Three Days to Save promotion centered around Thanksgiving and a holiday cash-back program. More than 4,800 stores will be open daily until 11 p.m. Dec. 13-Dec. 23, and many stores – including 24 hour locations – will be open Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

"For the increasingly busy consumer, Rite Aid's seasonal selection is the most local, affordable and convenient solution for any holiday shopping list," said Bryan Shirtliff, Rite Aid Senior Vice President, Category Management. "Our Three Days to Save promotion starts before and ends after Black Friday making it easier than ever to cross off early gifts, décor, sweet treats and more from that list."

Three Days to Save at Thanksgiving

During the Three Days to Save promotion shoppers can get something for everyone such as this collection of great finds all for under $20: Two Hot Wheel cars, 50 square feet of gift wrap, 100-bulb string of lights, 42-piece makeup kit, photo snow globe, A Christmas Story-themed decorative popcorn tin, Belgian Butters almond cookies and a pack of Rite Aid brand batteries.

Savings All Season Long

Rite Aid understands that value shopping doesn't end on Nov. 27. In fact, a recent National Retail Federation survey of prospective holiday shoppers indicates 55 percent will be shopping for sales more often than last year, while 40 percent will be using more coupons than previously. Rite Aid is heeding this call for value by offering more shopping and savings initiatives than ever before including:

* Weekly Red Hot Specials through Christmas on toys and other items at the lowest advertised price of the season

* The Gift of Savings program allowing customers to earn $5, $10 or $20 certificates based on total purchases from $25 to more than $100 from Nov. 22 through Dec. 24. Visit www.riteaid.com for rules and limitations.

* Free shipping and up to 50 percent off thousands of holiday gifts at Rite Aid’s online store at www.riteaid.com

* Free full-color, 28-page Holiday Gift Guides available now in all stores categorized by price and gift interest

Gifts under $20 include:

* The Fun 2 Save ATM bank that tallies and stores cash and tenders withdrawals using a debit card and PIN

* Indoor/Outdoor Adventure Play Tent with extendable tunnel tube

* Corinne Barbie doll from the Three Musketeers line

* Radio-controlled 360° Stunt Car with flashing light

* Teach & Talk Activity Laptop

* Five wall clocks that play prerecorded sounds or your own recorded messages on the hour

* Indoor/outdoor Solar Sun Jar that recharges during the day and glows at night

* Wireless multi-channel indoor/outdoor weather station that beams temperature reading to separate clock

* Electronic kitchen scale for precise measuring

* Five large bath & body gift sets including travel bags

Gifts under $10 include:

* A Thunder Tumbler radio-controlled car that flips and spins with light-up wheel

* Car-chargeable wet & dry vacuum

* Prepaid cell phone

* Large, 7x50 magnification binoculars

* Wireless headphones

* Digital 60-photo album keychain

* Assorted trimmers, shavers, hair clippers, hair straighteners and curlers

* Aromatherapy home spa kits and children's bubble bath play sets

* Dr. Scholl's Crazy Feet massager

* Digital camera for still, video or online use with easy USB hook-up

Some fun is brand new …

Tech-savvy teens will love Rite Aid electronics such as prepaid cellular telephones, a roll-up electronic piano and Guitar Hero for Nintendo DS. New among Rite Aid's 200 gift cards are 30 cards for various online gaming communities including PlayStation, Xbox, Nexon and Wizard 101. Surprise even those who have everything with the always innovative – yet practical – line of As Seen on TV gifts including the Snuggie and Jupiter Jack, which plugs into most any cell phone turning a car radio into a hands-free speakerphone.

And some fun is timeless

A stroll down Rite Aid's toy aisles harks back to simpler times with classic toys including rocking horses, Slinky, Nerf, Transformers, UNO, Beanie Babies, plush toys and battery operated train sets. There are also plenty of goodies to start a new Christmas tradition including a Thomas Kinkade Christmas wall clock that plays a different carol each hour and family board games such as A Christmas Story trivia game from the 1983 classic movie chronicling Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB gun.

Décor galore!

Start with the tree, which comes in 3-, 4½-, 6- and 6½-foot models in green or white with or without built-in lights. There are even dual potted, prelit trees for the front porch. Rite Aid has expanded its line of Every Day Low pricing to most trees and light sets. In its second year, this means the price on the box is the best advertised price of the season. West Coast stores again are offering live trees. New décor items in the exclusive Yule Rite line include frosted wreathes, amaryllis and poinsettia, classic figurines, and stockings of all shapes and sizes including a leg lamp-themed one from A Christmas Story, varieties for four-legged friends and a 48 by 52 inch jumbo stocking. There’s even a new standup metal stocking rack with ornamental golden scroll design.

Largest selection of LED lights yet

String light selection this year includes Rite Aid's largest variety of LED models ever with shimmering white icicles, light nets for bushes and color-changing LEDs that pulse white to blue or red to green. LED flameless candles and traditional single-flame models of the battery or plug-in variety can illuminate your home. Or go for the real thing with Seasonal Scents, a Rite Aid tradition of holiday-themed candles in Winter Spruce, Citrus Cranberry and even two- and three-layer candles.

Gifts of relaxation and fragrance

Shoppers will find a wide range of bath and body gifts including Simply Pink bath sets with soft pink slippers or night-time sleeping mask, Conair’s Massaging Slippers, and the Homedics line of massagers including Bubble Bliss Foot Bath, Percussion Massager with Heat, Shiatsu Heated Pillow and Shiatsu Heated Foot Massager.

With more consumers planning to buy a fragrance as a gift this holiday season – one in five, according to leading market research company The NPD Group – there are designer fragrances and colognes for everyone including varieties inspired by Halle Berry, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Gwen Stefani and Jay-Z. Rite Aid’s own exclusive Pure Spring brand of creams, lotions and sprays in four scents are great for stocking stuffers and also come packaged in gift sets. And just for men, there’s the Exclusively Men Bath gift set that makes skincare simple.

Gifts for the home, hostess, drop-ins and last minute

Get ready for the parties with fun holiday-themed cookware, matching towel sets and even whimsical holiday socks. Or for the drop-by visit, there are festive cookie jars and coffee mugs, eco-friendly bamboo kitchenware sets and patterned fleece throws hugged by stuffed reindeer or snowman friends. Popcorn tins, cookies and boxed chocolate samplers make great hostess and last-minute gifts because many come prewrapped in nostalgic winter scenes or bearing iconic holiday characters. There are also plenty of classic flavors such as and Little Dutch Boy samplers and candy canes, which are available in dozens of flavors including the pin-striped, peppermint original.

Batteries, tape, bows and other necessities

To avoid late-night wrapping paper runs, stock up early on necessities such as batteries, gift wrap and bows. And set the mood for all that wrapping and decorating with family by picking up a classic-crooning holiday CD.

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains with more than 4,800 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia with fiscal 2009 annual sales of more than $26.3 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through Rite Aid's Web site at www.riteaid.com.

Note to Editors: Above "Under $20" photo in high resolution and in-store photo opportunities available upon request

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