CHICAGO – The nation’s largest drugstore chain is stepping into the fickle world of fashion, Walgreens is set to introduce a clothing line, called Casual Gear, to most of its 6,000 stores on April 1, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Walgreens, which stumbled last year when it posted its first quarterly profit decline in a decade, is seeking to boost profits by expanding its in-house brands, which now includes clothing. The collection of cotton capris, sweat pants, quilted vests and T-shirts for men and women.

While two-thirds of Walgreens sales come from prescription drugs, sold at counters in the back of the stores, the big margins are in selling “front-of-the-store” general merchandise that the company develops itself, products known as private label.

Walgreens’ private-label business accounts for about 20 percent of general merchandise sales, up from 12 percent in 2000.

In the most sweeping move, Walgreens created a W label for about 800 commodity items such as shampoo, wax paper and baby lotion. Marked by a bright red circle, the W label began appearing in stores in January. The rollout is expected to be complete by fall.

Walgreens is also two years into a pilot for Café W, an in-store kiosk that sells coffee, muffins, snacks and sodas. Café W, much like a convenience store, is in about 200 stores and aimed at increasing traffic, VanHowe said. The hope is that office commuters, moms running errands and teenagers after school will come into the store for coffee or a snack and spend money on other items.