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CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. reported decreased same-store sales for January, due in part to declined front-end business and the deflationary impact of new generic drugs.
The drug chain said Thursday that for the four weeks ended Jan. 23, comparable-store sales in its retail pharmacy segment fell 1.4% year over year. That followed a 0.1% dip in comp-store sales for December.
In the front end, January same-store sales were down 1.9%. Comparable pharmacy sales declined 1.2% and reflected a negative impact of 242 basis points from introductions of new generics, Rite Aid said.
Prescription count at comparable stores dipped 1% for the month versus the year-ago period.
Overall drug store sales for January came in at $2 billion, down 1.3% from $2.026 billion a year earlier. Prescription sales represented 70.5% of drug store sales.
For the fiscal year to date through Jan. 23, Rite Aid’s comp-store sales rose 1.5% over the prior-year period, including gains of 0.3% in the front end and 2% in the pharmacy. Prescriptions filled edged up 0.4% for the 47-week period.
Total drug store sales for the 47 weeks were up 1.4% to $24.119 billion from $23.791 billion a year ago. Prescription sales accounted for 69.1% of drug store sales during that time span.
As of Jan. 23, Rite Aid operated 4,558 drug stores, compared with 4,569 stores a year earlier.
