Walgreens January Sales up 6.1%

Walgreens WAG WAG had January sales of $5.93 billion, an increase of 11.3 percent from $5.33 billion for the same month in 2010. Duane Reade stores, acquired in April 2010, contributed 2.8 percentage points to the total sales increase for the month. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 6.1 percent. The effect of calendar day shifts positively impacted total comparable sales by 0.7 percentage point. Duane Reade stores are not included in any comparable store results. Total front-end sales increased 11.5 percent in January, including 4.7 percentage points from Duane Reade stores. Comparable store front-end sales increased 4.5 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 2.4 percent, while basket size increased 2.1 percent.