Pharmacy sales help Fred’s in August

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fueled in part by increased pharmacy sales, Fred’s reported Thursday that its August sales hit $165.6 million this year, up 12% over August 2014. When excluding 54 stores that the company has shuttered in the past year, the sales bump is 17% over last August.

The company’s year-to-date sales are reflecting stronger sales, increasing 7% over this time last year to $1.22 billion. Excluding closed stores, sales in the first seven months of this 2015 increased 12%.

Fred’s CEO Jerry Shore attributes the improved August sales to pharmacy sales growth, both retail and specialty, which coincides with steady improvement in general merchandise sales, particularly in the back-to-school category for both stationery and apparel. Other strong general merchandise categories include beauty, toys and domestic items.

“Looking ahead, we expect to see a stronger total and comparable store sales performance in September versus the same month last year as our merchandising and marketing programs continue to gain momentum, we expand our pharmacy department marketing, and as specialty pharmacy grows,” Shore said. “We will continue to make these changes throughout the total store, as we discussed in our recent call, which will produce stronger growth and profitability in the third quarter and beyond."