Longs’ July sales fall

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. Longs Drug reported a 3.5 percent drop in same-store sales for July and a 1.6 percent decline in total sales of $353 million, driven by sluggish front-end sales.

Longs posted a 4.5 percent decline in front-end sales and a 2.7 percent drop in pharmacy sales. In a press release, Longs noted that July sales were recorded as the four weeks that ended July 31 and did not include July 1-3, which were added to June sales.

“Since there is typically an increase in the number of prescriptions filled the first several days of the month, this calendar shift favorably impacted June pharmacy sales and unfavorably impacted July pharmacy sales,” the report stated. Longs reported a 2.6 percent increase in June pharmacy sales for the period ended July 3.