COMPANY OVERVIEW AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

3 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2016

COMPANY OVERVIEW AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION [Abstract]

COMPANY OVERVIEW AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

NOTE 1 – 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 November 30, 2016, the Company had 39 consolidated warehouse clubs in operation in 12 countries and one U.S. territory (seven in Colombia; six in Costa Rica; five in Panama; four in Trinidad; three in Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic;  two in El Salvador and Nicaragua; and one each in Aruba, Barbados,  Jamaica, 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).  The Company constructed a new warehouse club on land acquired in May 2015 in Chia, Colombia that opened in September 2016, fiscal year 2017, bringing the total of warehouse clubs operating in Colombia to seven.  In April 2015, the Company acquired land in Managua, Nicaragua.  The Company constructed and then opened a warehouse club on this site in November 2015.  On December 4, 2015 the Company signed an option to acquire two properties and then swap them for 59,353 square feet of land adjacent to our San Pedro Sula warehouse club in Honduras.  The Company exercised this option and completed the swap during May 2016. The Company used the acquired land to expand the parking lot for the San Pedro Sula warehouse club.  The expansion was completed in December 2016.  The Company continues to explore other potential sites for future warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia.

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, 2016 (the “2016 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.