No June gloom for Costco

The nation's largest wholesale club operator reported strong sales for the month of June, both domestically and globally.



Costco Wholesale Corp. posted net sales of $12.17 billion for the five weeks ended July 2, 2017, up 5% from $11.33 billion during the year-ago period. Total same-store sales were up 6%.



In the U.S., same-store sales rose 6.5% in June. International same-store sales increased 6.2%. Canadian same-store sales rose 3.2%.



In a note, Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom commented that Costco's traffic trends were very healthy during June, up 4.5% in the United States. Domestically, the chain's top performing regions were the Midwest, the Bay Area, Texas, and San Diego, the analyst said.



For the 44 weeks ended July 2, 2017, Costco reported net sales of $104.28 billion, an increase of 6% from $98.51 billion during the similar period last year. U.S. same-store sales increased 3.9%.



Costco currently operates 734 warehouses, including 511 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 95 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.