Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports January Sales Results

| Source: Costco Costco

ISSAQUAH, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 8, 2007 --Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $5.57 billion for the month of January, the five weeks ended February 4, 2007, an increase of 7 percent from $5.21 billion in the same five-week period last year.

For the first twenty-three weeks of its reporting period ended February 4, 2007, the Company reported net sales of $27.80 billion, an increase of 9 percent from $25.43 billion during the similar twenty-three-week period of the prior year.

Comparable sales for the five-week and twenty-three-week periods ended February 4, 2007, were as follows: 

                                    5 Weeks        23 Weeks
                                  -----------     -----------
                US                     3%              4%
                International          0%              8%

                Total Company          2%              5%
                                  ===========     ===========

This year's five-week period included one less day than last year, reflecting the timing of the New Year's holiday. This shift negatively impacted this year's comparable sales by approximately 3 percent.

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 5556940). This recorded message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, February 9, 2007.

Costco currently operates 504 warehouses, including 371 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 70 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, five in Korea, four in Taiwan, five in Japan and 30 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 sixteen to seventeen new warehouses, including the relocation of one warehouse to a larger and better-located facility, prior to the end of its 52-week 2007 fiscal year ending on September 2, 2007.

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 those 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, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (including health care and workers' compensation costs), rising costs associated with the acquisition of merchandise (including the direct and indirect effects of the rising cost of petroleum-based products and fuel and energy costs), geopolitical conditions, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact Information: CONTACTS: Costco Wholesale Corporation Richard Galanti 425/313-8203 Bob Nelson 425/313-8255 Jeff Elliott 425/313-8264