Costco March Sales

Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports March Sales Results
ISSAQUAH, WA, Apr 10, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network)

Costco Wholesale Corporation today reported net sales of $6.57 billion for the month of March, the five weeks ended April 6, 2008, an increase of 11 percent from $5.93 billion in the same five-week period last year.
For the first thirty-one weeks of its reporting period ended April 6, 2008, the Company reported net sales of $41.34 billion, an increase of 12 percent from $36.96 billion during the similar thirty-one-week period last year.
Comparable sales for the five-week and thirty-one-week periods ended April 6, 2008, were as follows:
-------------5 Weeks--31 Weeks

----------US---- 5%------- 5%
International ---17%------ 17%
Total Company --7%------- 7%
========= =========
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 20% for the five-week month of March, as compared to the year-earlier March. Excluding gasoline price inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 3%. 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 March.

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 14 to 15 new warehouses (including the relocation of four to five warehouses to larger and better-located facilities) prior to the end of its 2008 fiscal year on August 31, 2008.