American Stores Co., the Irvine-based grocery and...

American Stores Co., the Irvine-based grocery and drugstore concern, said its fiscal 1989 first-quarter profit dropped 20% to $21.5 million from $27 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company said it had expected the reduction in profit because of its acquisition of Lucky Stores Inc. Sales during the period ended April 29 increased 44.9% to $5.2 billion from $3.6 billion. American Stores’ principal subsidiaries include Acme Markets Inc., Jewel Food Stores, Star Market Co., Alpha Beta Co., Lucky Stores Inc., Jewel-Osco and American Food and Drug Inc. It operates 1,919 retail food, drug and combination food-and-drug stores in 40 states. The company, which moved its headquarters last year to Irvine, plans to return to Salt Lake City in July.