COST Costco Wholesale Corporation

Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq:COST) today reported net sales of $13.55 billion for the retail month of June, the five weeks ended July 8, 2018, an increase of 11.7 percent from $12.13 billion last year. For the first forty-four weeks of fiscal 2018 the Company reported net sales of $116.81 billion, an increase of 12.0 percent from $104.28 billion last year.

Comparable sales were as follows:

		5 Weeks			44 Weeks
		Retail Month			Fiscal Year
	U.S.	10.8%			9.1%
	Canada	6.0%			10.1%
	Other International	7.3%			11.8%
	Total Company	9.7%			9.6%
	E-commerce	27.9%			34.8%

Comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange were as follows:

		5 Weeks			44 Weeks
		Retail Month			Fiscal Year
	U.S.	7.7%			7.2%
	Canada	3.4%			4.0%
	Other International	6.9%			7.2%
	Total Company	6.9%			6.7%
	E-commerce	27.7%			33.6%

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. It can be accessed by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 73993437). This message will be available through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, July 18, 2018.

Costco currently operates 752 warehouses, including 522 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 98 in Canada, 38 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 14 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, nine in Australia, two in Spain, one in Iceland and one in France. Costco also operates e-commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan.

Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded telephone message constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future.  Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (generally including health care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions (including tariffs), and other risks identified from time to time in the Company’s public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company does not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.

CONTACTS:  Costco Wholesale CorporationRichard Galanti, 425/313-8203Bob Nelson, 425/313-8225David Sherwood, 425/313-8239