Walgreens January Same-Store Sales Rise

Deerfield, Ill. Walgreens Co. on Monday said same-store sales rose 3.8% in January, helped by higher pharmacy and front-end sales.

Total sales for the month grew 9.6% to $4.96 billion. Front-end same-store sales grew 3.1% while pharmacy same-store sales rose 4.2%.

Same-store pharmacy sales fell 4.2% because of generic drug introductions during the last 12 months.

Walgreens said it saw some improvement from December in cough and cold product sales, but the category is still weaker than a year ago.

Year-to-date, same-store sales rose 4.5% while total sales grew 9.7% to $24.5 billion.