CAMP HILL, Pa. — Same-store sales rose for the second straight month in January at Rite Aid Corp.
The drug store chain said Thursday that for the four weeks ended Jan. 22, comparable-store sales increased 1.1% from a year earlier, building on a 0.6% same-store sales gain in December. Last month’s uptick marked the company’s first comp-store increase since May 2009.
Driving the January same-store sales rise was a 2.2% comp-store gain in the front end. Pharmacy same-store sales inched up 0.6% and reflected a 230-basis-point negative impact from generic introductions, according to Rite Aid. Prescription count at comparable stores was flat.
Meanwhile, overall drug store sales for the four-week period came in flat, totaling $1.913 billion, the same as a year ago, Rite Aid said.
For the 47-week year-to-date period ended Jan. 22, same-store sales dipped 0.9%, including declines of 0.4% in the front end and a 1.1% in the pharmacy.
Total drug store sales for the year to date were down 2% to $22.68 billion from $23.135 billion in the prior-year period.
As of Jan. 22, Rite Aid operated 4,718 stores, compared with 4,786 stores a year earlier.
