Total sales at CVS drug strores for the five-week period ended Oct. 1 rose 7.3 percent above sales from the same period last year, the Woonsocket-based pharmacy chain reported Oct. 6.
CVS Corp. said sales increased from $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion. Pharmacy sales were 71 percent of total company sales.
Sales at pharmacies open for more than one year – or “same store” sales – increased 5.6 percent from the same five-week period last year. Sales were up despite an estimated 1.7-percent revenue dip attributed to the introduction of generic drugs that replaced more expensive brand named medications, CVS reported.
Same store sales in September benefited from 1,268 Ekerd drug stores CVS acquired July 31, 2004, which positively impacted sales by about 1.5 percent, according to the pharmacy.
Still, it was the first month since CVS began factoring in business from the Ekerd drug stores – which represent 23.4 percent of its 5,461 pharmacies – that total sales percentages did not increase by double digits.
