ISSAQUAH, WA--(Marketwired - Jan 9, 2014) - Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $11.53 billion for the month of December, the five weeks ended January 5, 2014, an increase of six percent from $10.87 billion during the similar five-week period last year. 

For the eighteen weeks ended January 5, 2014, the Company reported net sales of $38.33 billion, an increase of six percent from $36.26 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales for the five and eighteen-week periods were as follows:

		5 Weeks		18 Weeks
U.S.		5%		4%
International		1%		1%
Total Company		3%		3%

Comparable sales for these periods, excluding negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were as follows:

		5 Weeks		18 Weeks
U.S.		5%		4%
International		7%		7%
Total Company		5%		5%

Additional discussion of these sales results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. You can access the recording by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 96613291). This message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, January 10, 2014.

Costco currently operates 648 warehouses, including 461 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 87 in Canada, 33 in Mexico, 25 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Japan, 10 in Taiwan, nine in Korea and five in Australia. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

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, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, amounts expected to be spent on expansion plans, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (including health care costs), energy, and certain commodities, 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.