CAMP HILL, Pa. — Comparable-store sales continued to improve in September at Rite Aid Corp.
The drug chain said Thursday that for the four weeks ended Sept. 28, comp-store sales rose 1.9% year over year. That exceeded the 1.1% same-store sales increase in August as well as gains of 1.3% in July and 0.7% in June.
In September, Rite Aid’s same-store sales dipped 0.5% in the front end, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 3.1%. The company noted that pharmacy same-store sales reflected a negative impact of 100 basis points introductions of new generic drugs, which have lower prices but carry higher profit margins.
Prescription count at comparable stores in September edged up 0.9% year over year.
Total drug store sales for September grew 1.9% to nearly $1.94 billion from about $1.90 billion a year earlier. Prescription sales represented 68.7% of drug store sales for the month.
For the 30 weeks ended Sept. 28, same-store sales declined 0.4%, reflecting flat results in the front end and a 0.6% decrease in the pharmacy. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores inched up 0.1% over the prior-year period.
Overall drug store sales for the 30 weeks fell 0.7% to $14.45 billion from about $14.55 billion a year earlier. Prescription sales accounted for 67.8% of total drug store sales in the period.
As of Sept. 28, Rite Aid operated 4,603 drug stores, compared with 4,639 stores a year ago.
