Costco Wholesale Corp.

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Corp. reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended May 12 increased a higher-than-expected 19% on increased sales and member fees. The wholesale club operator earned $459 million in the third quarter, up from $386 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 8% to $24.08 billion, just missing Wall Street’s forecast of $24.09 billion. Revenue from membership fees climbed to $531 million from $475 million, and same-store sales rose 5% overall and 6% in the U.S.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — A $62 million tax benefit in the second quarter, alongside a portion of a special cash dividend Costco received in December 2012, helped bolster the company's net income for the first 36 weeks of fiscal 2013, ended May 12. 

LOS ANGELES — Mike Pollard, retired VP of Costco Wholesale, has joined the board of directors of Abbyson Living, which manufactures and imports living room, dining and bedroom furniture.

Pollard retired from Costco Wholesale in 2013 after a 27-year career. Abbyson Living will look to Pollard for his guidance regarding comprehensive business practices that will directly impact the company’s growth and further mature the value of the brand. 

New York -- Officials in Baton Rouge have approved more than $7 million in incentives to bring a Costco store to the Louisiana city, the Associated Press reported.  
   
Costco is expected to open a 150,000-sq-ft. store by next April at the site of a former Coca-Cola bottling facility, the report said.

New York -- TJX Cos., The Buckle and Zumiez all reported better-than-expected same-store sales for April, even as concerns about the job market bit into other retailers’ results.
   
TJX Cos. said that same-store sales in April were up 8% on strong customer traffic, better than 6.8% increase that analysts had expected. For the four weeks ended May 4, total revenue rose 9% to $2 billion.
   

NEW YORK — The Buckle and Zumiez all reported better-than-expected same-store sales for April, even as concerns about the job market bit into other retailers’ results.

The Buckle, Inc. reported a 6.2% increase in same-store sales for April, well ahead of the 1.5% same-store revenue growth anticipated by Wall Street analysts. The teen apparel retailer also reported year-to-date same-store revenue growth of 1.2% and total sales of $269.7 million, a 2.3% increase. 

By Leslie Hand, research director, IDC Retail Insights

Ron Johnson's highly publicized short tenure at J.C. Penney, or JCP, as it was rebranded, will certainly make it into the textbooks and graduate theses on what to do and what not to do when undertaking a significant retail business transformation. The primary failure was not putting customer needs first in what promised to be an excellent long term strategy. Oops — forget the customer in an omni-channel customer strategy?

What a colossal mistake!

PALM BEACH, Fla. — During the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting today, the association elected the new officers, two new executive committee members and four new board of directors members for the coming year. The NACDS Foundation also announced the addition of five new members. 

Robert Narveson, president and CEO of Thrifty White Pharmacy, was elected as the new NACDS chairman of the board of directors, succeeding Gregory Wasson, president and CEO of Walgreens.

New York -- The University of Missouri-Kansas City will present Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal with its Entrepreneur of the Year award at a special ceremony this fall, according to published reports.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday that Sinegal, who retired as the club retailer's CEO in January 2012, would be among the honorees of the university's 28th Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards celebration.

Sinegal founded Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco together with Jeff Brotman in 1983.
 

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp reported a 4% rise in same-store sales, missing analysts' expectations for a 5.2% increase. The company said its results were negatively impacted by lower fuel prices and a strong dollar, which hurt the value of its sales overseas.

Net sales at Costco rose 7%to $9.67 billion for the five-week period ended April 7.