Business View Magazine
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co worked for Sol Price’s original retail company, Fed-
Mart, and operated Costco with the values and type
of culture that he learned from Sol. This common ap-
proach to the managing of the business made it easier
for the two companies to come together and become
the leader in the industry.”
PriceSmart got its start soon, thereafter. “In 1995, a
separate company was started – PriceSmart – to fo-
cus on developing membership warehouse clubs in
smaller formats, internationally.” Naylon says. Some
were skeptical that the business model would succeed
in Central America. “A lot of people thought they were
poor, developing countries, which in a way they were,
but they also had a good, solid middle class who want-
ed to get access to higher quality goods – primarily
American-made merchandise and U.S. brands. Either
they couldn’t get them down there, or they were very
expensive.”
PriceSmart was convinced that the markets were
ready and that the model would work. “Our first opera-
tion was in Panama City, Panama, in 1996,” Naylon
relates, “and it went over very well. By 1999, we had
started a massive expansion through Central Ameri-
ca and the Caribbean. Between 1999 and 2001, we
opened up an additional 17 club stores in seven dif-
ferent countries. Today, we’re in 13 countries with 39
warehouse clubs in 22 different cities.” The countries
where PriceSmart has a presence include: Costa Rica,
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Pana-
ma, Aruba, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago,
Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Co-
lombia.
PriceSmart’s headquarters are in San Diego, Califor-
nia, but it also has a big presence in Miami, Florida.
“Our main distribution center is here in Miami,” says
Naylon. “We have a lot of executive management here,
as well as most of our senior logistics people. We also
have sizable, regional offices in Costa Rica, Panama,
Trinidad, and Bogotá, and then smaller offices in some
of the other countries.” PriceSmart employs about
8,000 people with about 95 percent of them outside
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
PriceSmart
WHAT:
An operator of membership-based ware-
house clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean
WHERE:
Headquarters in San Diego, California
WEBSITE
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