COMPANY OVERVIEW AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

6 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2015

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

COMPANY OVERVIEW AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

COMPANY OVERVIEW AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

PriceSmart, Inc.’s (“PriceSmart” or the “Company”) business consists primarily of international membership shopping warehouse clubs similar to, but smaller in size than, warehouse clubs in the United States.  As of February 28, 2015, the Company had 36 consolidated warehouse clubs in operation in 12 countries and one U.S. territory (six in Costa Rica and Colombia; four in Panama and Trinidad; three in Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic; two in El Salvador; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua and the United States Virgin Islands), of which the Company owns 100% of the corresponding legal entities (see Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies). During October 2013, the Company opened its sixth membership warehouse club in Costa Rica in La Union, Cartago, and in May 2014, the Company opened its third warehouse club in Honduras in Tegucigalpa, the Company's second in the capital city. In January 2014, the Company acquired land in Pereira, Colombia and in the city of Medellin, Colombia and leased land in the city of Bogota, Colombia. The Company built new warehouse clubs at these three sites, and opened the Bogota location in October 2014 and opened the other two sites in November 2014. Together with the three warehouse clubs that were operating prior to these openings in Colombia (one in Barranquilla and two in Cali), these three new clubs brought the number of PriceSmart warehouse clubs operating in Colombia to six. In September 2014, the Company acquired land in La Chorrera ("Costa Verde"), west of Panama City, Panama, on which the Company's fifth PriceSmart warehouse club in Panama is scheduled to open in the summer of 2015. The Company continues to explore other potential sites for future warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia. The warehouse club sales and membership sign-ups experienced with the opening of the warehouse clubs in Colombia have reinforced the Company's belief that there could be a market for additional PriceSmart warehouse clubs in other Colombian cities.

Basis of Presentation - The interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q for interim financial reporting pursuant to the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").  These interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2014 (the “2014 Form 10-K”).  The interim consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PriceSmart, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its subsidiaries.  Inter-company transactions between the Company and its subsidiaries have been eliminated in consolidation.

The Company has evaluated subsequent events through the date and time these financial statements were issued. 

Reclassifications to consolidated balance sheet recorded during fiscal year 2015 for fiscal year 2014 - Certain reclassifications to the consolidated balance sheet have been made to prior fiscal year amounts to conform to the presentation in the current fiscal year. These reclassifications relate to the presentation of certain income tax receivables (see note 2). The table below summarizes these reclassifications.

	August 31, 2014 balance sheet line item as previously reported		Amount reclassified Dr/(Cr)			August 31, 2014 balance sheet line item as currently reported
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	22,570		$	(5,310	)	17,260
Other non-current assets	27,593		3,162			30,755
Accounts payable	(225,761	)	2,202			(223,559	)
Income taxes payable	(7,664	)	(54		)	(7,718	)
Net amount of reclassifications			$	—