PriceSmart

{{Short description|American membership warehouse club}}

{{About|PriceSmart Inc warehouse clubs|the Canadian grocery store chain|PriceSmart Foods}}

{{cleanup|reason=List should possibly be prose or separate article?|date=May 2015}}

{{Infobox company

| name = PriceSmart, Inc.

| logo = PriceSmartLogo2.png

| image = PriceSmart Headquarters.jpg

| image_caption = PriceSmart headquarters in San Diego

| type = Public

| traded_as = {{ubl|{{NASDAQ|PSMT}}|S&P 600 component|Russell 2000 component}}

| foundation = {{start date and age|1993}}

| founder = Sol Price

| predecessor = Price Club

| location_city = San Diego, California

| location_country = U.S.

| revenue = {{up}}US$2.9billion (2016){{cite web|title=Annual Report 2016|url=https://pricesmart.com/Investor/Annual-Reports/2016AnnRpt.pdf|website=PriceSmart.com|publisher=PriceSmart Inc.}}

| homepage = {{URL|https://pricesmart.com/}}

| num_employees = 7,903{{Cite web|url=http://fortune.com/fortune500/pricesmart/|title=PriceSmart|website=Fortune|access-date=2019-03-17}}

| num_employees_year = 2017

| footnotes =

}}

PriceSmart, Inc. is a United States based operator of membership warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. PriceSmart was founded by Sol and Robert Price, founders of Price Club; Robert Price is chairman of the board.

Warehouse clubs

The following table lists the warehouse clubs owned and operated currently by PriceSmart:{{Cite web |last=Bedford |first=Emma |date=February 13, 2024 |title=PriceSmart warehouses worldwide 2023 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1207944/number-pricesmart-warehouses-by-country/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=Statista |language=en}}

class="wikitable"
Country

! No. of stores

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| Aruba

|align=center | 1

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| Barbados

|align=center | 1

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| Colombia

|align=center | 10

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| Costa Rica

|align=center | 9

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| Dominican Republic

|align=center | 5

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| El Salvador

|align=center | 3

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| Guatemala

|align=center | 5

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| Honduras

|align=center | 3

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| Jamaica

|align=center | 2

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| Nicaragua

|align=center | 2

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| Panama

|align=center | 7

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| Trinidad and Tobago

|align=center | 4

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| U.S. Virgin Islands

|align=center | 1

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Key dates

{{prose|section|date=March 2025}}

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! Year !! Events

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|1976

|Price Club founded by Sol and Robert Price

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|1993

|The Price Co. and Costco Wholesale Club merge, forming Price/Costco Inc (later renamed Costco Wholesale Corporation)

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|1994

|Price Enterprises Inc spun off from Price/Costco

Robert Price named chairman, president and CEO of Price Enterprises

PriceSmart operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Price Enterprises

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|1995

|Licensees open two club stores (Micronesia and Guam)

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|1996

|PriceSmart opens its first club store (Panama)

Licensees open one club store (Indonesia)

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|1997

|PriceSmart opens its second club store (Panama)

Licensees open two club stores (China and Indonesia)

Price Enterprises Inc separates itself from PriceSmart by spinning off all non-real estate assets to PriceSmart

PriceSmart completes IPO and begins trading as PSMT on NASDAQ stock exchange

Gilbert A. Partida appointed president and CEO

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|1998

|Licensees open two club stores (China and Philippines)

Licensee stores in Guam and Philippines close

Licensee arrangement with operator of Indonesian club stores terminated

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|1999

|PriceSmart opens seven club stores (Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, two in Dominican Republic)

Licensees open two club stores (China)

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|2000

|PriceSmart opens eight club stores (Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, two in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Trinidad)

Licensees open one club store (China)

PSMT Philippines created as a joint venture with S&R Membership Shopping, with PriceSmart holding 60% ownership

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|2001

|PriceSmart opens seven club stores (Aruba, USVI, Guatemala, Barbados, Trinidad, two in Philippines)

Licensees open three club stores (China)

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|2002

|PriceSmart opens three club stores (Guam, two in Philippines)

PriceSmart starts wholesale phone card sales program

Licensees open two club stores (China)

PSMT Mexico created as joint venture with Grupo Gigante, with PriceSmart holding 50% ownership

PSMT Mexico opens two club stores in Mexico

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|2003

|PriceSmart opens two club stores (Jamaica, Nicaragua)

PriceSmart closes four club stores (Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guam, Philippines)

PriceSmart terminates wholesale phone card sales program

PSMT Mexico opens one club store

Licensees open two club stores (China)

Gilbert A. Partida resigns as president and CEO, Robert E. Price assumes role of interim president and CEO

PriceSmart announces it will restate financial results for 2002 and 2003.

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|2004

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Philippines)

Licensees close two club stores (China)

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|2005

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Costa Rica)

PSMT Mexico closes its three stores in Mexico (Irapuato and Celaya stores replaced with Home Depot)

Company sells its interest in PSMT Philippines to E-Class Corporation, one of PSMT Philippines' minority shareholders (all stores in Philippines became S&R)

Licensee arrangement with operator of Chinese club stores terminated

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|2006

|PriceSmart relocates San Pedro Sula, Honduras club store

PriceSmart added to Russell 2000 stock index

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|2007

|PriceSmart opens two club stores (Guatemala, Trinidad)

PriceSmart sells its interest in PSMT Mexico to Grupo Gigante

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|2009

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Costa Rica)

Ranked #55 on Fortune Magazine's list of 100 fastest growing companies

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|2011

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Colombia-Barranquilla)

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|2012

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Colombia-Cali)

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|2013

|PriceSmart opens two club stores (Colombia-Cali and Costa Rica)

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|2014

|PriceSmart opens three club stores (Honduras, Colombia-Medellin, Colombia-Pereira)

2015

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Colombia-Bogotá)

2016

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Colombia-Chia)

2018

|PriceSmart acquires Aeropost.com

PriceSmart opens one club store (Dominican Republic)

2019

|PriceSmart opens three club stores (Dominican Republic, Guatemala-San Cristobal, Panama-Metro Park)

2020

|PriceSmart opens two club stores (Costa Rica-Liberia and Colombia-Bogota)

2021

|PriceSmart opens two club stores (Colombia-Bucaramanga and Guatemala-Aranda)

2022

|PriceSmart opens one club store (Jamaica-Portmore)

Sherry Bahrambeygui removed from PriceSmart

Pricemart sells Aeropost.com

2023

|John Hildebrandt named COO

PriceSmart opens three club stores (Colombia-El Poblado, El Salvador-San Miguel and Guatemala-Escuintla)

2024

|PriceSmart opens one club store

(El Salvador-Santa Ana)

2025

|PriceSmart opens one club store

(Costa Rica)

References

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