CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. cited anemic cold/flu season-related business in reporting declined same-store sales for October.
The drug store chain said Thursday that for the four weeks ended Oct. 23, overall same-store sales fell 1.7% versus a year earlier. October’s result exceeded same-store decreases hovering around 1% in the previous three months, most recently a 0.9% same-store dip in September.
"Both front-end and pharmacy same-store sales were negatively impacted by a significantly weaker cough, cold and flu season compared to the same period last year," Rite Aid stated.
Same-store sales in October were down 1.3% in the front end and 1.8% in the pharmacy, according to Rite Aid. The company said pharmacy same-store results reflect a negative impact of 242 basis points from new generic drug introductions, and prescriptions filled at comparable stores declined 1.9% over the prior-year period.
Total drug store sales for the four weeks, meanwhile, dropped 2.7% to $1.91 billion from $1.96 billion a year earlier.
For the 34-week year-to-date period ended Oct. 23, Rite Aid’s same-store sales fell 1.3%, including decreases of 1% in the front end and 1.4% in the pharmacy. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores were down 1.8%.
Overall drug store sales for year to date declined 2.3% to nearly $16.32 billion from about $16.71 billion in the year-ago period.
Rite Aid said that as of Oct. 23, it operated 4,735 stores, down from 4,807 units a year earlier.
