Costco names new COO

Costco Wholesale Corp. has made an important move in its leadership team.

The warehouse club giant promoted Ron Vachris to president and COO, effective Feb. 2, according to a filing by the company. The position was previously held by CEO Craig Jelinek, who will remain as chief executive and as a board member.

The appointment of Vachris, who was also elected as a director to fill a newly-created vacancy on the board, puts him in the spot to succeed Jelinek, 69, who has led the chain since 2012.

Vachris had served as executive VP and chief operating officer of merchandising for Costco since 2016. Before that, from August 2015 to June 2016, he was senior VP of real estate development. From 2010 to 2015, he was senior VP and general manager of Costco’s northwest region. Vachris joined Costco in 2010.

In other news, Costco reported that its total comparable sales for the month of January, excluding fuel and exchange rate effects, rose 10.8% Comparable sales were up 9.5% in the United States. Customer traffic rose 7.5%.

For the twenty-two weeks ended January 30, 2022, the company reported net sales of $92.10 billion, an increase of 16.4% from $79.11 billion last year.

Costco currently operates 828 warehouses, including 572 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 105 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 30 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one in Iceland. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.