“Costco Canada has been an outstanding success and dominates the wholesale club segment,” Howlett wrote in a note to clients Friday. Empire, as the largest operator of conventional supermarkets in Canada, would appear to have the greatest exposure to Costco.”The analyst estimated opening a Costco Canada is equivalent to opening four to five conventional supermarkets. “Our estimate is that Costco Canada, Walmart Canada and Metro are clustered together with similar national market shares,” the analyst said. Howlett notes that Costco Canada’s same-store sales growth appeared to be been moderating in the fourth quarter, which ended Aug. 28. Its same-store sales rose four per cent in August, below the five per cent rate of the entire fourth quarter and the full fiscal year same-store sales rate of 8 per cent.

Source: National Post September 30, 2016 20:37 UTC