Rite Aid increases same-store sales for February

CAMP HILL, Pa. Rite Aid on Thursday announced a same-store sales increase of 2.2 percent for the five weeks ended March 1, including a 2.1 percent lift in pharmacy same-store sales and a 2.5 percent jump in front-end same-store sales.

The same-store sales do not yet include the acquired Brooks/Eckerd stores, which won’t be included in that metric until the period covering June 2008.

Total drugstore sales for the five-week period increased 50.8 percent to $2.6 billion, which does include the acquired stores. Prescription revenue accounted for 67.4 percent of drugstore sales, and third party prescription revenue represented 96.1 percent of pharmacy sales.

For the year ended March 1, Rite Aid generated $24.3 billion, an increase of 39.6 percent, with a 1.7 percent same-store sales lift in pharmacy and 0.7 percent growth in front-end same-store sales results.