Costco June same-store sales decline 6 percent

NEW YORK - Warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp. said Thursday that its June same-store sales dropped 6 percent but managed to meet Wall Street's expectations.

The Issaquah, Wash.-based company said in a recorded message that some of its strongest categories included food and fresh food products, such as deli items, frozen food and candy. It experienced softness in nonfood, discretionary categories.

Total sales for the period ended July 5 slipped 4 percent to $6.88 billion.

Both the current and prior-year's monthly results included 34 days in the U.S. and Canada.

Excluding declining gas prices and the stronger dollar, June same-store sales edged up 1 percent.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key indicator of retailer performance since they measure growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

For the year to date, same-store sales dipped 3 percent while total sales fell to $59.02 billion from $59.84 billion. Same-store sales for the year-to-date gained 3 percent when excluding falling gas prices and the stronger dollar.

Costco runs 556 warehouses, including 405 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 77 in Canada, 21 in the United Kingdom, seven in Korea, six in Taiwan, nine in Japan and 31 in Mexico.

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