<div id="subtitle">As key sales figure slips at Walgreen, analysts say shoppers may be choosing other stores</div><div><p>Shares of Walgreen Co. dropped Wednesday after the drugstore operator surprised Wall Street by reporting that a key figure — sales at its stores that have been open at least a year — fell in January.</p><p>At the 6,659 stores that have been open or controlled by Walgreen for at least a year, total revenue, pharmacy sales and sales of non-pharmacy "front end" items all decreased. Walgreen said overall figure fell 1.1 percent, while analysts expected growth of 2.2 percent.</p><p>Analysts suggested the company is losing customers to rivals; they also said its plan for improving its sales may be causing some disruptions.</p><p>The sales comparison — which leaves out 503 stores the company opened or bought in the last year — is considered a key measure of retailer performance because it excludes the results from stores that open and or close during the year.</p><p>Shares of the Deerfield, Ill., company sank $2.20, or 6 percent, to $34.58 in afternoon trading.</p><p>Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher said some customers are doing more of their shopping at larger low-price stores like Wal-Mart or Target instead.</p><p>"Today's more value-conscious consumer is increasingly consolidating shopping trips with larger stores and is cutting back on more discretionary purchases," he said. He added that flu season revenue is continued to decline.</p><p>Walgreen is trying to improve its finances by carrying fewer products and improving the layout of its stores.</p><p>Jefferies and Co. analyst Scott Mushkin said he estimated growth of 5 percent. Based on the January sales figure, Mushkin said, it hasn't paid off so far.</p><p>"The miss (...) suggests that Walgreen's efforts to reinvigorate sales are struggling to gain traction in the front end and the pharmacy," he wrote.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68396368&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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