By Tess Stynes 
 

Walgreen Co.'s (WAG) same-store sales rose 2.9% in January from a year earlier on better-than-expected performance in the pharmacy section and the front of the store.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected same-store sales growth of 1.7%.

Drugstore retailers have seen a wave of generic drug introductions put pressure on sales growth.

For January, Walgreen reported same-store sales grew 1.6% in the front of the store, above analysts' estimates for a 0.8% increase. Same-store customer traffic fell 2.2% but basket size increased 3.8%.

Pharmacy same-store sales increased 3.7%, above analysts' estimates for 2.2% growth. Same-store prescriptions filled dropped 0.8%. Adjusted for calendar shifts, generic drug introductions had a negative impact of 1.3 percentage points, while a decline in flu shots had a negative impact of half a percentage point. A lower incidence of flu had a negative impact on pharmacy sales of 1.1 percentage point.

Total drugstore sales rose 3.7% to $6.39 billion.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

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