CHICAGO - Walgreen Co said October sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.9 percent, with flu vaccinations driving some of the growth and sales of general merchandise topping expectations.

Pharmacy same-store sales rose 5 percent. The company said 1 percentage point of growth came from seasonal flu shots.

Sales of general merchandise, sold at the front-end of stores, rose 4.7 percent.

Analysts, on average, expected Walgreen's same-store sales to rise 4.8 percent, with a 6 percent jump in pharmacy and a 2.5 percent rise in the front end, according to Thomson Reuters data. (Reporting by Jessica Wohl, editing by Dave Zimmerman)