PriceSmart Announces Property Acquisition for Third New Warehouse Club in Colombia

SAN DIEGO, CA, Mar 19 (MARKET WIRE) --
PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSMT) today announced that on March 15, 2012 it
acquired approximately 12,000 square meters of land in North Cali,
Colombia, upon which the Company plans to construct and operate a new
PriceSmart Warehouse Club, which would be its third in Colombia.

In August 2011 PriceSmart successfully opened its first Colombia
Warehouse Club, in the city of Barranquilla, and recently has commenced
construction of a new Warehouse Club in South Cali. It is currently
anticipated that the South Cali PriceSmart Club will open in October
2012, and that the North Cali PriceSmart Club will open in the spring of
2013.

About PriceSmart

PriceSmart, headquartered in San Diego, owns and operates U.S.-style
membership shopping warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean,
selling high quality merchandise at low prices to PriceSmart members.
PriceSmart now operates 29 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S.
territory (five in Costa Rica; four each in Panama and Trinidad; three
each in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic; two each in El Salvador and
Honduras; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Colombia, Jamaica, Nicaragua
and the United States Virgin Islands).

This press release may contain forward-looking statements concerning the
Company's anticipated future revenues and earnings, adequacy of future
cash flow and related matters. These forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, statements containing the words "expect,"
"believe," "will," "may," "should," "project," "estimate," "anticipated,"
"scheduled," and like expressions, and the negative thereof. These
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially, including the following risks: the
Company's financial performance is dependent on international operations
which exposes the Company to various risks; any failure by the Company to
manage its widely dispersed operations could adversely affect its
business; the Company faces significant competition; future sales growth
could be dependent upon the Company acquiring suitable sites for
additional warehouse clubs; the Company may encounter difficulties in the
shipment of, and risks inherent in the acquisition and importation of,
merchandise to its warehouse clubs; the Company is exposed to weather and
other natural disaster risks; declines in the economies of the countries
in which the Company operates its warehouse clubs would harm its
business; a few of the Company's stockholders own approximately 31.4% of
the Company's voting stock, which may make it difficult to complete some
corporate transactions without their support and may impede a change in
control; the loss of key personnel could harm the Company's business; the
Company is subject to volatility in foreign currency exchange; the
Company faces the risk of exposure to product liability claims, a product
recall and adverse publicity; a determination that the Company's
long-lived or intangible assets have been impaired could adversely affect
the Company's future results of operations and financial position;
although the Company takes steps to continuously review, enhance, and
implement improvements to its internal controls, there may be material
weaknesses or significant deficiencies that the Company has not yet
identified; as well as the other risks detailed in the Company's U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reports, including the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed for the year ended August 31,
2011 filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on November 9,
2011. We assume no obligation and expressly disclaim any duty to update
any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after
the date of this presentation or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.

For further information, please contact
John M. Heffner
Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer
(858) 404-8826

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