COSTCO

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Net sales for Costco rose 9% in December to nearly $10.1 billion, the company announced Thursday.

The company also reported that U.S. comparable-store sales and international comps rose 7$ and 9%, respectively, during the five-week period. Excluding gasoline price increases and a slightly negative impact of foreign-currency translations, the quarter's same-store sales rose 7%, Costco noted.

CHICAGO — Investment research firm Morningstar has named the outgoing CEO of Costco Wholesale as its 2011 CEO of the Year, the company said Wednesday.

Costco CEO Jim Sinegal, who retired on New Year's Day, received the recognition for what Morningstar called his "exemplary corporate stewardship, independent thinking" and creating "lasting value for shareholders."

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco Wholesale Corp. reported sales of $21.18 billion and profits of $320 million during first quarter 2012, according to an earnings statement.

NEW YORK — The state government of Washington is set to bow out of the liquor business on June 1 thanks to a ballot initiative that passed last month, but two labor unions are hoping to stop it, according to published reports.

Optimism, skepticism, confidence and concern were among the range of emotions shared by Walmart suppliers who participated in the second annual Walmart Supplier Survey conducted by Drug Store News’ sister publication Connecting Northwest Arkansas.


(To view the full results of the Walmart Supplier Survey, click here.)

Bootlegging, debauching and murdering its way through the second season, HBO’s Prohibition-themed series “Boardwalk Empire” has dramatized an era alien to its viewers but whose vestiges have remained in much of the country.


ISSAQUAH, Wash. — The nation’s leading warehouse club operator maintained its momentum in November by posting a 6% increase in same-store sales at U.S. clubs, excluding the beneficial effect of higher year-over-year gas prices.

SEATTLE — Starbucks announced Thursday plans to reinvent the $1.6 billion premium juice market with its all-cash purchase of San Bernardino, Calif.-based Evolution Fresh for $30 million.

The acquisition, which is part of a strategy to move beyond coffee into the health-and-wellness segment, gives Starbucks a path to open new health-and-wellness stores in the coming year, it said, although Starbucks has not yet revealed many stores it will open, their location or the name.