CVS Corporation Reports 16.9% Increase in March Same Store Sales.

WOONSOCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 1999--CVS Corporation (NYSE NYSE

See: New York Stock Exchange :CVS (1) (Concurrent Versions System) A version control system for Unix that was initially developed as a series of shell scripts in the mid-1980s. CVS maintains the changes between one source code version and another and stores all the changes in one file. ) today announced that same store sales Same Store Sales

A statistic used in retail industry analysis. It compares sales of stores that have been open for a year or more.

Notes:
This statistic allows investors to determine what portion of new sales has come from sales growth and what portion from the opening of for the five weeks ended March 27, 1999 increased 16.9% over the prior year period.

Pharmacy same store sales rose 22.3%. Total pharmacy sales represented 60% of total company sales in March.

Total sales for the five-week period ended March 27, 1999 increased 22.5% to $1.638 billion, compared to $1.337 billion in the prior year period. The company's exceptional sales results for March were in part driven by this year's late flu season

Main article: Influenza

Flu season is a term used to describe the regular outbreak in flu cases during the cold half of the year. Flu activity can sometimes be predicted and even tracked geographically. and an earlier Easter, which shifted some holiday sales into March.

Year-to-date, same store sales for the thirteen-week period ended March 27, 1999 increased 13.4% over the prior year period, while pharmacy same store sales increased 20.4%. Total sales for the thirteen-week period increased 17.7% to $4.240 billion, compared to $3.602 billion in 1998.

CVS is the leading drug store chain in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Midwest regions. As of March 27, 1999, CVS operated 4,096 stores in 24 states and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). .

General information about CVS, including corporate background and press releases, is available through CVS' web site at http://www.CVS.com.

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Publication:	Business Wire
Geographic Code:	1USA
Date:	Apr 6, 1999
Words:	208
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