CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. saw comparable-store sales rise in April despite a negative impact from the timing of this year’s Easter holiday.
Rite Aid said Thursday that for the four weeks ended April 25, same-store sales grew 3% year over year, continuing the drug chain’s monthly comp-store sales gains in this calendar year. For March, same-store sales rose 4.3%.
In the front end, comp-store sales dipped 0.5% in April, reflecting a negative impact of 0.9% from this year’s earlier Easter, which fell on April 5 versus April 20 last year. Comparable pharmacy sales were up 4.6%, including a negative impact of 145 basis points from introductions of new generic drugs.
Prescription count at comparable stores edged up 1.8% for the month.
Overall drug store sales in April increased 2.4% to $2.042 billion from $1.995 billion a year earlier. Prescription sales represented 68.9% of total drug store sales.
For Rite Aid’s fiscal 2016 year to date, the eight weeks ended April 25, same-store sales climbed 3.6% over the prior-year period, reflecting increases of 1% in the front end and 4.9% in the pharmacy. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores rose 2.2%.
Total drug store sales for the year to date came in at $4.068 billion, up 3.2% from $3.941 billion in the year-ago period. Prescription sales accounted for 69.4% of overall drug store sales.
As of April 25, Rite Aid operated 4,566 drug stores, compared with 4,583 stores a year earlier.
