Thursday, drugstore chain Walgreen Co. (WAG) posted a 3.4% growth in comparable-store sales for the month of June 2009, as consumers filled more prescriptions. However, comparable store front-end sales edged down 0.9%, impacted by weak sales of seasonal items.
The Deerfield, Illinois-based company's sales for the month of June were $5.24 billion, an increase of 9.0%, compared to $4.80 billion in the year-ago period.
Comparable store front-end sales dropped 0.9% from last year's growth of 3.4%, hurt by softer sales of seasonal items compared with last year.
For the month of June, Walgreen's pharmacy sales advanced 11.0%, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 5.8%. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 4.4 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.
Further, prescriptions filled at comparable stores rose 7.5% percent in June, including 1.5 percentage points, due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.7% of total sales for the month.
The company noted that the calendar day shifts had a positive impact on the month, as pharmacy patients filled more prescriptions during the week than on weekends. In 2009, June had one more weekday compared to June in the previous year. Calendar shifts positively impacted total comparable store sales by 1.5 percentage points, comparable pharmacy sales by 2.3 percentage points and prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 2.2 percentage points.
Year-to-date calendar sales were $31.8 billion, up 7.1% from the previous year's sales of $29.7 billion. Fiscal 2009 year-to-date sales for 10-month totaled $52.9 billion, an increase of 7.4%, compared to $49.2 billion reported a year earlier. Comparable store sales for the fiscal year-to-date increased 2.1%.
For the preceding month of May, Walgreen generated total sales of $5.37 billion, versus $5.06 billion in the same period of the previous year. Comparable store front-end sales increased 0.2% in May, compared to a growth of 6.0% in the prior year.
During June, Walgreen, which also operates worksite health centers, home care facilities, opened 46 stores, including five re-locations, and acquired four stores. As at June 30, the company operated 7,407 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Among Walgreen's peers, Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported June same-store sales decline of 0.6%. Same-store sales, excluding the acquired Brooks Eckerd stores, were flat compared to the prior-year period, with front-end same-store sales decreasing 4.4% and pharmacy same-store sales increasing 2.6%.
Rite Aid's June front-end same-store sales descended 4.5%, while pharmacy same-store sales, which included an approximate 484 basis points negative impact from new generic introductions, rose 1.4%.
Walgreen shares, which have been trading between $21.28 and $37.85 in the past 52 weeks on NYSE, closed Wednesday's trading session at $29.34, down 6 cents or 0.20%.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.