Article: Discounters' success is testing drug chains.(BEAUTY AIDS BEST-SELLERS)

NEW YORK -- Dollar sales in the beauty care category in drug stores grew 3.9% last year to $7.73 billion, according to Information Resources Inc. This compares with a 2.7% rise to $17.46 billion across the three mass market trade classes, excluding Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The gain posted by drug stores lagged behind the 4.1% increase generated by discounters. When Racher Press estimates for Wal-Mart (which does not share data about individual product categories with market research firms) is included, the gap widens. Already the dominant force in beauty care, Wal-Mart generated a 5.6% increase last year to $10.8 billion. That performance brought the average gain for ...

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