ISSAQUAH, WA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/06/08 -- Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $5.30 billion for the month of October, the four weeks ended November 2, 2008, an increase of two percent from $5.21 billion in the same four-week period last year.

For the first nine weeks of its reporting period ended November 2, 2008, the Company reported net sales of $11.97 billion, an increase of six percent from $11.26 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales for the four-week and nine-week periods ended November 2, 2008, were as follows:

                                     4 Weeks      9 Weeks
                                   -----------  -----------
          US                            2%           6%
          International               -10%          -4%
          Total Company                -1%           3%
                                   ===========  ===========

Excluding the negative effect of foreign exchange (particularly in Canada, the U.K. and Korea), international comparable sales for October increased 9% in local currency, and total Company comparable sales would have increased by 3% for the month. Gasoline price changes year-over-year had no material impact on sales for the month.

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 47692246). This recorded message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, November 7, 2008.

The Company also announced a record date of November 21, 2008 for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on January 28, 2009.

Costco currently operates 546 warehouses, including 400 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 76 in Canada, 20 in the United Kingdom, six in Korea, five in Taiwan, eight in Japan and 31 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 four new warehouses prior to the end of calendar year 2008.

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, 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.