Over the last month, we’ve spent 5+ hours interviewing former leaders at Costco who were responsible for running the UK and European business. 

From 2012-22, COST’s international store base has grown at 5.8% CAGR with Japan, Taiwan, and Korea leading drivers. The UK store base has grown 2.8% per year, with only one new store opened since 2016. In Europe, COST has only opened seven stores since 2010. 

The population density and GDP per capita across the UK and Western Europe suggests COST has a far greater store opportunity than 36 stores. This analysis shares our learnings from our interviews with COST leaders and highlights the history of Costco UK, why the UK is a unique market, and the outlook for European expansion.