Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports June Sales Results

Business Wire, July 8, 2004

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corporation (Nasdaq: COST) today reported net sales of $4.64 billion for the five weeks ended July 4, 2004, an increase of 9 percent from $4.28 billion in the same five-week period of the prior fiscal year. This year's five-week period included 33 days of sales compared to 34 days for the comparable five-week period last year, reflecting the timing of Memorial Day. This calendar shift negatively impacted reported net sales and comparable sales by approximately 3 percent.

For the first 44 weeks of its 2004 fiscal year ended July 4, 2004, the Company reported net sales of $39.79 billion, an increase of 14 percent from $34.95 billion during the similar 44-week period of the prior fiscal year.

Comparable sales for the 5-week and 44-week periods ended July 4, 2004, were as follows:

5 Weeks        44 Weeks
                           -------------   -------------
          US                          7%             10%
          International               2%             15%

          Total Company               6%             11%
                           =============   =============

Reported net sales were reduced by the implementation of Emerging Issues Task Force Issue No. 03-10 ("EITF 03-10"), "Application of Issue No. 02-16 by Resellers to Sales Incentives Offered to Consumers by Manufacturers," which was effective at the beginning of the Company's fiscal third quarter, February 16, 2004. Had sales for the 5-week and 44-week periods last year been reported under EITF 03-10, total Company reported net sales increases would have been 10 percent and 14 percent, respectively, and total Company comparable sales increases would have been 7 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Additional discussion of these sales results is available on a pre-recorded telephone message. You can access the recording by dialing 1-800-642-1687 (conference ID# 8653315). This recorded message will be available today through 5:00 PM (PDT) on Friday, July 9, 2004.

Costco currently operates 434 warehouses, including 321 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 63 in Canada, 15 in the United Kingdom, five in Korea, three in Taiwan, four in Japan and 23 in Mexico. The Company also operates Costco Online, an electronic commerce Web site, at www.costco.com. The Company plans to open an additional seven new warehouses prior to the end of its fiscal year 2004 on August 29, 2004.

Certain statements contained in this release 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, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, rising costs associated with employees (including health care and workers' compensation costs), conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, actions of vendors, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the SEC.