Walgreens July sales increased slightly

Walgreens announced that sales increased slighting in July at stores open at least a year.

The Deerfield based company reported a .4 percent increase in total sales at its established stores.

Walgreens reported July sales at all stores, including Duane Reade locations, at $5.58 billion.

July pharmacy sales increased 4.3 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales were flat. Comparable pharmacy sales were also negatively impacted by 2.1 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months and by 0.4 percentage point due to lower incidence of flu. Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.6 percent of total sales for the month.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 2 percent in July, including 1.3 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions.

The company reported that total front-end sales increased 9.4 percent in July, including 5 percentage points from Duane Reade. Comparable store front-end sales increased 1.1 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased .6 percent, while basket size increased .5 percent.

Calendar year-to-date sales were $39.09 billion, an increase of 5.5 percent from $37.05 billion in 2009.

Walgreens opened 11 stores during July and closed eight.

On July 31, Walgreens operated 8,037 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 7,545 drugstores, 602 more than a year ago, including 283 stores acquired over the last 12 months.