"High hope is that we might have something open, but it's probably two or three years away." The bulk of Costco's international stores are in Canada and Mexico, where it operates 68 units and 28 units, respectively. The retailer also has 18 UK stores, as well as five each in Japan and South Korea and one in Taiwan.
Domestically, Costco is only planning two or three new markets over the next 50 store openings, Galanti says. Overall, the company has 350 units in the US and Puerto Rico.
During the next fiscal year, which starts in August, Costco management plans about 35 new store openings, just above the number planned for the current year. Seven new stores opened in its third and latest quarter, which ended May 7.
Costco executives are not planning major expansions of any of the company's alternate store concepts, such as Costco Home, the third of which is to open in the next year, and the four-store Costco Business Center, which might get a new unit within the next 12 months. The company opened its first car wash last month, but Galanti says the company will wait and see how it does before planning any further expansion.
During the third quarter, Costco's year-over-year same-store sales rose 7%. Net sales shot up 11% to $13 billion, while net income rose to $235.6 million, up from $209.8 million during the same quarter a year ago. For the month of May, Costco's same-store sales increased 10%.
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