Best Retail Companies To Invest In Right Now

Best Retail Companies To Invest In Right Now: Costco Wholesale Corporation(COST)

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates membership warehouses that offer a selection of branded and private label products in a range of merchandise categories in no-frills, self-service warehouse facilities. The company's product categories include candy, snack foods, tobacco, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and cleaning and institutional supplies; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, office supplies, garden and patio, sporting goods, toys, seasonal items, and automotive supplies; dry and institutionally packaged foods; apparel, domestics, jewelry, house wares, media, home furnishings, cameras, and small appliances; meat, bakery, deli, and produce; and gas stations, pharmacy, food court, optical, one-hour photo, hearing aid, and travel. It also provides business and gold star (individual) membership services. As of April 26, 2011, the company operated 581 warehouses, including 425 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 80 in Canada, 22 in the Uni ted Kingdom, 7 in Korea, 6 in Taiwan, 8 in Japan, 1 in Australia, and 32 in Mexico. It also has Costco Online, an electronic commerce Web site, at costco.com in the United States and at costco.ca in Canada. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation in August 1999. Costco Wholesale Corporation was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake Keator]

  Costco (NASDAQ: COST  ) : It's a testament to Costco's attention to customer experience that I go there for fun. Every Costco member knows the joy of setting foot in the store for the free samples. If you've read Robert Cialdini'sInfluence, you'll know free samples trigger feelings of reciprocation; customers may feel compelled to purchase the product by virtue of psychological bias. But it could also be because the food is so good. Costco is also t! he place my mom shops for staples needed to run an active household: food, toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water, etc. And Costco's store layout is such that I cannot go through it without scanning the book stacks or the clothing offerings for a good find.

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Now, both retailers have joined with other businesses that have opted out of the settlement in filing their own lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard. A little over one week ago, Walmart, Costco, (NASDAQ: COST  ) and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) filed suit with 16 others alleging that the settlement abridges their rights to bring future actions against card issuers for colluding on the setting of interchange fees, and does nothing to prevent fee hikes by the card companies and banks that issue the cards.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/best-retail-companies-to-invest-in-right-now.html