Walgreens said Tuesday its February sales fell 2.2 percent because of one less sales day compared with the same month a year ago.
The Deerfield company said its sales last month totaled $5.75 billion, compared with $5.88 billion a year ago. If not for the extra day due to leap year in 2012, sales would have increased by 1.5 percent, Walgreens said.
Pharmacy sales fell 2.1 percent, but rose 2 percent when taking out the extra day last year. Almost two-thirds of Walgreens’ total sales were through the pharmacy.
Customer traffic in stores open at least a year fell 4.9 percent, but the amount those customers spent on average rose 3.5 percent. Overall, sales at stores open at least a year fell 0.6 percent, which Walgreens said was due to a number of generic drug introductions that have hurt its prescription sales.
Total sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 slipped 0.1 percent to $18.63 billion.
On Feb. 28, Walgreens operated 8,539 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.
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