Average spending 'significantly up': Shoppers Drug Mart

From the National Post:
Recession-addled consumers continue to spend more money at Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., despite the fact that it is not a discount retailer.

Chief executive Jurgen Schreiber said Thursday that the number of transactions at the country’s biggest drug retailer is up and that spending on an average basket at the checkout counter is "significantly up," which goes against general recessionary trends.

The biggest change that retailers tend to see during a recession "is that customers do fewer trips -- in general terms, a 5% to 7% reduction," Mr. Schreiber said following the pharmacy giant’s annual general meeting of shareholders. "But I don’t see that in our business."

He attributes the increase in customer trips to heightened promotions at the retailer, although he noted the rise in traffic was lower in the first quarter than in the first quarter of 2008. ...more