costco planning for continued facility expansion

With its May numbers showing that it enjoyed $11 billion in revenue, up by nearly $2 billion over May of last year, the Costco Wholesale Corporation is experiencing the best of times.

One of the reasons for the company’s continued growth is due its membership base, which makes up roughly 75 percent of its revenue, meaning it is less threatened at any time from competitors like Walmart and Amazon.

Costco “doesn’t respond like most retailers because it has a different business model,” notes a recent analysis conducted by the financial services company known as the Motley Fool, adding that “there are no signs that the model has any weakness.”

Reflective of that growth, Costco, which is based in Issaquah, Washington, has announced plans to build up to 25 new warehouse locations this year.

Those locations, measuring around 150,000 square feet, are going up across the country, with specific sites expected to open this summer in California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

The new sites will be added to a current location total of 520 warehouses nationally, and a combined 120 outlets in both Canada and Mexico.

The company currently has ten locations each in Arizona and Colorado, and three in New Mexico. Costco has not said whether it has plans to build additional locations in those states.

Launched in 1983, Costco is now the largest membership-only warehouse in the country. Its total 2017 revenues exceeded $129 billion.  

By Garry Boulard