Costco April Sales Results

Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports April Sales Results
ISSAQUAH, WA, May 08, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network)

Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $5.54 billion for the month of April, the four weeks ended May 4, 2008, an increase of 12 percent from $4.94 billion in the same four-week period last year.
For the first thirty-five weeks of its reporting period ended May 4, 2008, the Company reported net sales of $46.88 billion, an increase of 12 percent from $41.90 billion during the similar thirty-five-week period last year.
Comparable sales for the four-week and thirty-five-week periods ended May 4, 2008, were as follows:
-------------- 4 Weeks----35 Weeks
US------------- 7%-------- 5%
International--- 14%------- 17%
Total Company- 8%-------- 8%
============== ==============
The U.S. comparable sales figure includes, among other things, the effect of gasoline price inflation, with the average sales price per gallon of gasoline up 17% for the four-week month of April, as compared to the year-earlier April. Excluding gasoline price inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 5%. In addition, foreign exchange rates, primarily in Canada, positively impacted international comparable sales results. On a local currency basis, international comparable sales increased 6% in April.

The Company plans to release its third quarter fiscal year 2008 operating results, for the twelve weeks ending May 11, 2008, on Thursday, May 29, 2008. A conference call to discuss these third quarter results is scheduled for 8:00a.m. (PT) on May 29 and will be available via a webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "Webcasts").
Costco currently operates 536 warehouses, including 392 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 75 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, six in Korea, five in Taiwan, eight in Japan and 31 in Mexico. The Company also operates Costco Online, an electronic commerce web site, at www.costco.com and at www.costco.ca in Canada. The Company plans to open an additional 12 to 13 new warehouses (including the relocation of five warehouses to larger and better-located facilities) prior to the end of its 2008 fiscal year on August 31, 2008.