Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) – Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Canada: A Success Story

What makes us successful in these countries I think is because we’re different than everybody else. Just like when we start in the U.S., we’re just different than everybody else. In Canada we’re just different than everybody else. Mexico, we’re different. It’s a unique type of business that there’s not a lot of people that look the same and do business the same.

Whenever you’re different and you can bring value, the consumer tends to like it.

Austin: Great.

Analyst: Just a follow-on to that; you look at a Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) going international, it’s because they’re running out of U.S. space. You look at a map of your company — Seattle we might have 15 locations; Boston, we might have two or three over on the East Coast — basically, what kind of upside do you think you still have in America? Could you see Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) doubling its presence from this point?

Jelinek: Over a period of time, I think that’s very possible to do. I would think that we could… you never know what’s going to happen in the marketplace. You never know what’s going to happen in the economy. You never know what kind of situations could happen in different countries.

But we feel very comfortable, over the next 15-20 years, we could double the size of the company. We think there’s a lot of opportunities still left in the U.S.

Austin: That’s just doubling domestically.

Jelinek: No. I would say domestically… we could probably come close in 20 years.

The article Costco Canada: A Success Story originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Austin Smith.

Austin Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST). The Motley Fool owns shares of Costco Wholesale.

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