Walgreen, Rite Aid fall short in May

New York City An early Easter and a late Memorial Day took a toll on drugstore sales in May, with both Walgreen Co. and Rite Aid reporting same-stores sales declines.

Walgreen Co. said Thursday its same-store revenue fell 0.2% in May, but total revenue jumped on recently acquired Duane Reade drug stores. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 1.5% gain in same-store revenue, on average. Total revenue in May rose 5.9% to $5.7 billion.

In April, Walgreen completed its $623 million buyout of the Duane Reade drugstore chain, adding 258 additional stores in the metropolitan New York City area.

Walgreen said same-store pharmacy revenue fell 0.4%, while front-end same-store revenue rose 0.3%. (The additional Duane Reade stores are not included in same-store revenue.)

Rite Aid Corp. said its same-store revenue fell 1.7% in May on a mix of lower front-end retail product revenue and pharmacy revenue. Analysts had expected a 1.1% decline.

Front-end same-store revenue fell 3.6%, while pharmacy same-store revenue fell 0.8%. Rite Aid said its total revenue fell 2.7% to $2.44 billion in May.