San Diego-based PriceSmart posted fiscal year 2026 net merchandise sales of $5.75 billion — up 11.7% year-over-year — while opening its third warehouse club in Jamaica, signaling that the Latin America and Caribbean membership-retail model continues to absorb consumer spending at scale. For food, beverage, and consumer-goods suppliers selling into the region, the numbers confirm that PriceSmart's 59-club network remains one of the most consequential retail procurement channels in emerging tropical markets.
The Numbers
Fourth-quarter net merchandise sales reached $1.48 billion, a 13.8% gain over the same period last year. Stripping out the favorable 6.0% currency tailwind — largely attributable to stronger regional currencies versus the U.S. dollar — the underlying constant-currency comparable sales growth still came in at 6.2% for the quarter and 6.4% for the full year. Membership income for the full fiscal year climbed to $100.8 million from $85.6 million, a meaningful proxy for base loyalty and repeat purchasing cadence. Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2026 was $360.5 million, up from $320.7 million the prior year, suggesting the business is generating enough operating cash flow to fund an active construction pipeline without straining the balance sheet.
The Jamaica Club and What's Next
The newly opened Montego Bay location occupies a five-acre site with approximately 42,000 square feet of selling floor — roughly 100 miles west of the Kingston club, giving PriceSmart geographic coverage of Jamaica's two primary commercial corridors. The build includes solar panels, a CO2-based cooling system, and energy-efficient LED lighting, a design profile increasingly common in new tropical-market retail construction where energy costs and sustainability commitments intersect. Four additional clubs are planned before the end of fiscal 2027: a second Kingston location, sites in Villa Nueva (Guatemala) and Heredia (Costa Rica), and a debut entry into Santiago, Chile — the latter representing a meaningful new country expansion that suppliers should track as a new distribution entry point.
What This Signals for Suppliers and Operators
For food and beverage suppliers seeking shelf placement in high-growth emerging markets, PriceSmart's trajectory reinforces several procurement realities. First, membership-model retail in the Caribbean and Central America is still in a net-expansion phase — the pipeline to 63 clubs means category buyers are actively reviewing assortments for new doors. Second, the Chile entry is a greenfield opportunity: vendors without existing Santiago distribution infrastructure have a defined timeline to build relationships before the first club opens in spring 2027. Third, the consistent 6%-plus constant-currency comparable sales growth across 55 mature clubs indicates that the existing member base is spending more per visit, not just renewing memberships — which typically favors branded food, beverage, and household staples over unbranded commodity SKUs. Operators and suppliers competing for placement in this channel should also note that PriceSmart's sustainable construction specs are beginning to filter into supplier-qualification conversations, particularly around cold-chain and packaging standards aligned with energy-efficient store environments. Brands entering this channel for the first time should prioritize retail readiness and buyer deck preparation well ahead of the 2027 openings. Suppliers already in the network should monitor procurement shifts as new geographies require localized compliance and logistics planning — the kind of intelligence covered in our operator intelligence tracking.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
