PriceSmart Inc, operator of a membership shopping retail chain across the Americas, reported a dip in sales at sales at its flagship store in Kingston, due to a migration of customers to its newest outlet in Portmore.
Overall, the chain reported improvement in sales across its markets, but not Jamaica, where it now operates two stores.
“This strong performance was offset by our Jamaica market, which decreased 3.8 per cent” over a thirty-nine-week period ended June 4, 2023, “due to sales transfers from the existing club included in the comparable net merchandise sales calculation to the new club not included in the calculation,” said PriceSmart in an earnings call.
The Portmore club opened in April 2022, nearly two decades after PriceSmart first entered Jamaica with a store at Reds Hill Road, Kingston, that opened for business in 2003.
At the start of 2023, sales dipped 6.9 per cent in Kingston, but that dip attenuated to half that figure by the third quarter, signalling a growth trend. The company did not disclose the sales generated by the Portmore store.
Across PriceSmart’s Caribbean operations, sales increased by 7.3 per cent to US$311 million in the quarter from US$290.4 million a year earlier. Over nine months, sales grew 11 per cent to US$942.2 million from US$848.2 million a year earlier.
The Caribbean segment includes Aruba, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands. Within that segment the Dominican Republic was the star performer with sales increasing 14 per cent.
PriceSmart, which is headquartered in the United States, operates 51 warehouse clubs in 13 markets. The company generated about US$1.1 billion in total sales over three months to May compared to US$1.03 billion a year earlier. It also generated US$3.3 billion over nine months, up from US$3.04 billion.
Its earnings in the third quarter rose by 53 per cent to US$29.6 million, and 15 per cent to US$93.8 million over nine months.