Walgreens' February Sales increase 3.4 percent

DEERFIELD, Ill. Walgreens had February sales increased of 3.4 percent from the same month in 2008, a company news release stated Tuesday.

The company also announced that February pharmacy sales increased 3.9 percent, and that pharmacy sales accounted for 64.8 percent of total sales for the month.

Walgreens opened 19 stores during February, including one relocation, an acquisition of three stores and the closing one. As of Feb. 28, Walgreens operated 7,176 locations in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 6,679 drugstores, 550 more than a year ago.

Although sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) decreased 1.9 percent, while comparable store front-end sales decreased 3.5 percent, the company pointed out that last year’s February sales benefited from one extra day because of leap year. while comparable pharmacy sales decreased 0.9 percent (increased 3.2 percent for 28 days). Additionally, comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.2 percent due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.