PriceSmart Inc, the membership warehouse retailer, plans to open a distribution centre in Jamaica before the end of its current fiscal year in August, even as it prepares to double its club footprint on the island from two locations to four.“In addition, we plan to open a distribution centre in Jamaica during fiscal year 2026 and a distribution centre in the Dominican Republic during fiscal year 2027,” Chief Executive David Price told investors on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on July 9.The company did not disclose the location, cost, size or staffing plans for the Jamaican facility, nor whether it will be company-operated or run through a third-party logistics provider. PriceSmart uses both models across its network.“We are enhancing our distribution and logistics network through the opening of distribution centres ... either operated by PriceSmart or through the use of third-party logistics providers,” the company said in its quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.A distribution centre serves as a local warehouse that receives, stores and sorts merchandise – both goods imported from PriceSmart’s regional hub in Miami and locally sourced products – before redistributing them to the company’s warehouse clubs in that country. The facility is intended to reduce shipping costs, shorten delivery times and improve stock availability.PriceSmart currently operates distribution centres in Miami, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Guatemala and, as of the third quarter, Colombia, where it began operations at a new facility in Bogotá. The Jamaica facility would be the latest addition to that network.TWO NEW CLUBS UNDER CONSTRUCTIONThe logistics investment comes as PriceSmart advances plans for two additional Jamaican warehouse clubs.The company disclosed in its SEC filing that it purchased land in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 for a third Jamaican club in Montego Bay. “The club will be built on a five-acre property and is anticipated to open in the fall of 2026,” the filing stated. Montego Bay is approximately 100 miles west of the company’s nearest existing club in Kingston.A fourth location on South Camp Road in Kingston is being built on a three-acre property under a lease executed during the same quarter and is expected to open in the winter of 2026-27, approximately six miles from the company’s nearest existing Kingston club.Once open, the two new locations will double PriceSmart’s Jamaican store count from two to four. The Jamaica expansion is part of a broader six-club pipeline that includes new locations in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Chile. Once all six are open, PriceSmart will operate 63 warehouse clubs, up from 57 currently.FINANCIAL PERFORMANCEPriceSmart, which is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker PSMT, reported third-quarter net merchandise sales of approximately US$1.5 billion, up 12.5 per cent year-over-year, and net income of US$39.7 million, up 12.3 per cent from US$35.2 million in the prior-year period. Earnings per diluted share rose to US$1.28 from US$1.14.For the first nine months of fiscal 2026, net merchandise sales increased 11.0 per cent to approximately US$4.3 billion and net income rose 10.0 per cent to US$128.9 million from US$116.3 million.The company’s balance sheet shows property and equipment rose to US$1.113 billion as at May 31, 2026, from US$996.3 million at the end of fiscal 2025, while total assets increased to US$2.52 billion from US$2.27 billion over the same period.PriceSmart reports Jamaica within its broader Caribbean segment and does not separately disclose capital spending or financial results for the island.

carolyn.guniss@rjrgleaner.com