Costco Wholesale Corporation Announces Pilot Test for Accepting Food Stamps

ISSAQUAH, WA, May 27 (MARKET WIRE) --
Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") (NASDAQ: COST) announced today
that it will begin accepting food stamps in its two New York City
locations as soon as it has completed the installation of the necessary
technology for processing the payment cards, estimated for early summer
2009. The two Costco locations, in Queens and Brooklyn, were selected as
pilots for the test because of the high penetration of food stamp
recipients in the surrounding areas. If the test proves successful in
meeting requests by Costco members to use this form of payment, and if it
does not result in an unexpected loss of efficiency for Costco's
front-end operations, Costco will open its future planned New York City
locations with food stamp acceptance.

Costco CEO, Jim Sinegal, stated: "In the past, we have not been convinced
that there was sufficient demand among our membership to justify the
expense and possible inefficiencies associated with accepting food stamps.
However, we are mindful that many of our fellow citizens are facing
unprecedented economic challenges at this time, and it seemed to us that
it was worth reconsidering our position in that light. We are taking this
step to see if we can be a part of the solution to the financial burden
that many people are facing today."

Costco currently operates 555 warehouses, including 407 in the United
States and Puerto Rico, 77 in Canada, 21 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
six new warehouses and close its two Costco Home locations prior to the
end of its 2009 fiscal year, on August 30, 2009.

Certain statements contained in this document 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.

CONTACTS:
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Joel Benoliel, 425/313-8193
Richard Galanti, 425/313-8203
Bob Nelson, 425/313-8255
Jeff Elliott, 425/313-8264

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