Walgreen Co. same-store sales up 1.5 percent

Walgreen Co. reported Thursday that comparable-store sales, those at retailers open at least 12 months, increased 1.5 percent in March.

Increasing pharmaceutical sales helped offset an unfavorable calender as well as a downturn in consumer spending on non-drug goods.

March pharmacy sales increased 10.2 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 5.7 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.8 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months. Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 4.9 percent in March. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.6 percent of total sales for the month.

March sales were hurt by last year’s March Easter compared with an April Easter this year. The company will report sales for the combined months of March and April 2009 next month.

The Deerfield drugstore chain’s overall sales rose by 6.8 percent to $5.46 billion from $5.11 billion in the year-ago month. Total sales reflect the contribution of stores opened or acquired under Walgreen’s expansion plan: as of March 31, Walgreen was operating 6,736 drugstores, 576 (or 9.4 percent) more than the 6,160 it had open one year ago.

“Front-end” sales, of non-pharmacy goods such as cosmetics and food, generate about one-third of Walgreen sales each month, compared with roughly two-thirds that come from pharmacy sales.