CVS Corporation August Sales Increase 7.8%; Same Store Sales Boosted by Acquired Stores.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- CVS Corporation (NYSE: CVS) today announced that total sales for the four-week period ended August 27, 2005 increased 7.8% to $2.8 billion, compared to $2.6 billion in the prior year period. Total pharmacy sales represented 69.9% of total company sales in August.

Same store sales (sales from stores open more than one year) for the four weeks ended August 27, 2005 increased 6.2% over the prior year period. Pharmacy same store sales increased 5.9%, despite being negatively impacted by approximately 170 basis points due to recent generic introductions, which are being substituted for higher priced brand named drugs. Front-end same store sales increased 6.8%. Beginning with the four weeks ended August 27, 2005, same store sales include the impact of the acquisition completed on July 31, 2004, of 1,268 Eckerd stores. The inclusion of the former Eckerd stores benefited total August same store sales by 64 basis points. This was driven by a significantly positive impact on front-end same store sales and little impact on pharmacy same store sales, as expected.

"We are very pleased with the early results we are achieving in the acquired stores," stated Tom Ryan, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of CVS Corporation. "The integration is complete, and now we are beginning to see the benefits of what is expected to be a multi-year turnaround. Same store sales in the acquired stores are significantly higher than in our core business as we recapture customers in these high-growth sun-belt markets. I expect the benefit to our same store sales from the acquired stores to continue to grow in the coming months, both in the front end as well as the pharmacy businesses." Mr. Ryan continued, "Our core business also performed well. I couldn't be happier with our solid performance, which is a testament to our terrific people who have worked hard to provide 'CVS easy' customer service."

Year-to-date, total sales for the thirty-four week period ended August 27, 2005, increased 29.2% to $23.8 billion, compared to $18.4 billion in 2004. Same store sales for the thirty-four week period increased 6.6% over the prior year period. Pharmacy same store sales increased 7.6%, while front-end same store sales increased 4.4%.

CVS is America's largest retail pharmacy, operating 5,454 retail and specialty pharmacy stores in 37 states and the District of Columbia as of August 27, 2005. With more than 40 years of dynamic growth in the retail pharmacy industry, CVS is committed to being the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. CVS has created innovative approaches to serve the healthcare needs of all customers through its CVS/pharmacy(R) stores; its online pharmacy, CVS.com(R); and its pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy subsidiary, PharmaCare(R). General information about CVS is available through the Investor Relations portion of the Company's website, at http://investor.CVS.com, as well as through the pressroom portion of the Company's website, at www.cvs.com/pressroom.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For these statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company strongly recommends that you become familiar with the specific risks and uncertainties outlined under the caption "Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended July 2, 2005.