Costco strong in July

Costco Wholesale Corp. turned in a winning performance in July, fueled by strong traffic trends.



The company reported that its net sales in July rose 8.8% to $9.41 billion, compared to $8.65 billion during the similar period last year. Total company same-store sales rose 6.2%, with a 6.0% increase in the U.S. Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, total same-store sales rose 5.3%, and 5.5% in the U.S.



For the 48 weeks ended July 30, Costco reported net sales of $113.70 billion, an increase of 6.1% from $107.16 billion during the similar period last year.



Costco currently operates 736 warehouses, including 511 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 97 in Canada, 37 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 25 in Japan, 13 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, eight in Australia, two in Spain, one in Iceland and one in France. Costco also operates electronic commerce websites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan.