Rite Aid September Same-Store Sales Rise

Camp Hill, Pa., Rite Aid Corp. on Thursday said same-store sales edged up 0.7% in September. For the four weeks ended Sept. 29, pharmacy same-store sales grew 1.3%, hurt by nearly four percentage points by the introduction of new generic drugs. Front-end, or non-pharmacy, same-store sales fell 0.5%.

Total drug store sales for the four-week period grew 52% to $1.99 billion, including results from recently acquired Brooks and Eckerd drugstores.

Year-to-date same-store sales rose 1.6%, with a 2% rise in pharmacy same-store sales and a 0.9% increase in front-end same-store sales.

Total drug store sales year-to-date, for the 30 weeks ended Sept. 29, grew 31.4% to $13 billion, including the Brooks and Eckerd stores.