Walgreens reports spike in October sales

DEERFIELD, Ill. Walgreens reported Tuesday a 9.4% increase in October sales.

Sales for one of the nation's top drug store chains were $5.65 billion, compared with $5.16 billion for the same month in 2008. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 4.9%, while comparable store front-end sales increased 4.7%.

Meanwhile, pharmacy sales increased 9.3%, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 5%. Additionally, prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 8.6% in October, including 2.4 percentage points due to seasonal flu shots and 1.3 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.3% of total sales for the month.

Walgreens opened 69 stores during October, including eight relocations.  As of Oct. 31, Walgreens operated 7,603 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 7,105 drugstores, 562 more than a year ago, including 66 stores acquired over the last 12 months.

Walgreens fiscal 2010 year-to-date sales for the first two months were approximately $11 billion.