5:30PM New York – Costco and Wal-Mart lead the same store sales rise in May.

The familiar of trend of customers transitioning from the department store shopping of discounters and shunning non-essential purchased was evident in May same store retail sales. Large discount retailers reported healthy rise in sales in the month, department stores struggled to attract customers and apparel chains lost revenue. Costco and Wal-Mart continue to gain market from other chains and increase their product offerings in groceries, drugs and health and beauty aids.

Costco Warehouse (COST: chart) today reported May net sales increase of 12%, net sales of first thirty-one weeks climbed to 13%.

Comparable sales for the five-week and thirty-one-week periods ended June 1, 2008 for US, International and total Company were 7%, 15% and 9% respectively and for thirty-one-week periods 6%, 17% and 8% respectively.

The U.S. comparable sales figure includes, among other things, the effect of gasoline price inflation, with the average sales price per gallon of gasoline up 19% for the four-week month of May, as compared to the year-earlier May.

Excluding gasoline price inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 5%. On a local currency basis, international comparable sales were increased 8% in May.

Costco currently operates 537 warehouses, including 393 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 75 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, 6 in Korea, 5 in Taiwan, 8 in Japan and 31 in Mexico. The Company plans to open additional 7 to 8 new warehouses (including the relocation of two warehouses to larger and better-located facilities) prior to the end of its 2008 fiscal year on August 31, 2008.

Costco reported net sales of $5.77 billion for the month of May the four weeks ended June 1, 2008, an increase of 12% compared to $5.14 billion in the same period of last year.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT: chart) today reported net sales for the four- and 17-week periods ending May 30, 2008, and June 1, 2007, respectively. Total Sales for May 2008 was up 9.8% from a year ago.

Net Sales for Wal-Mart Stores increased 7.8%, at Sam’s Club rose 7.3% and and at international location surged 16.6%. Comparable store sales in the Wal-Mart Stores U.S. locations during the four-week April were strong in grocery, drugs and entertainment.

Sales in health and wellness increased with the expansion of the $4 prescription program, which now includes more than 1,000 over-the-counter medications priced at $4 or less.

Sam’s Club had sales strengths in dry grocery and consumables during the April period. Apparel, house wares and jewelry were soft during the period. Fuel sales were higher both in gallons and dollars sold, increasing comparable Sam’s Club sales by 2.9%.

Target Corporation (TGT: chart) net retail sales for the four weeks ended May 31, 2008 increased 5.5% to $4,564 million from $4,325 million for the four weeks ended June 2, 2007. April comparable store sales decreased 0.7%.

Kohl’s Corporation (KSS: chart) sales for the four-week period ended May 31, 2008, increased 1.2% over the four-week period ended June 2, 2007. On a comparable store basis, sales decreased 7.2%.

For the 17 weeks ended May 31, 2008, total sales were up 1.4% over the 17 weeks ended June 2, 2007. On a comparable store basis, sales for the 17-week period decreased 6.8%.

On May 31, 2008, the company operated 957 stores in 47 states, compared to 834 in 46 states at the same time last year.

Chico’s FAS, Inc. (CHS: chart) May sales results for the four-week period ended May 31, 2008, decreased 8.8% to $141.4 million from $155.0 million reported for the four-week period ended June 2, 2007.

Comparable store sales decreased 16.9% for the four-week period ended May 31, 2008 compared to the same period of 2007.

For the seventeen-week period ended May 31, 2008, total sales decreased 9.4% to $551.0 million from $608.1 million reported for the seventeen-week period ended June 2, 2007. Comparable store sales decreased 17.4% for the seventeen-week period ended May 31, 2008 compared to the seventeen-week period last year ending June 2, 2007.