Monthly sales rise 6.2% for Walgreens

DEERFIELD, Ill. Walgreens experienced a 6.2% in its July sales, compared with the same period last year.

The drug store chain said sales for the month of July totalted $5.58 billion -- up from $5.26 billion in July 2009 -- adding that Duane Reade sales contributed to 2.9 percentage points to the total sales increase for the month. Comparable-store sales also increased by 0.4%.

Walgreens reported that while July pharmacy sales increased 4.3%, comparable-pharmacy sales were flat, primarily because of generic introductions and a lower incidence of flu. Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.6% of total sales for the month.

Meanwhile, total front-end sales increased 9.4% in July, including five percentage points from Duane Reade. Comparable store front-end sales increased 1.1%. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.6%, while basket size increased 0.5%.

Walgreens opened 11 stores during July and closed eight. At July 31, Walgreens operated 8,037 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.