MEMBERS club store chain, PriceSmart, has bought a five-acre plot of land, a few miles west of Panama City, where it plans to build its fifth location in the Central American country.

The new location is currently planned to open in the summer of 2015.

The bulk of PriceSmart’s revenue and profit comes from Latin America, where the membership shopping chain has 20 of its 33 stores in operation.

It saw its revenue from its operations in Central and South America climb from US$1.15 billion during the nine months to May 31, 2013, to US$1.28 billion during the corresponding period a year later.

Earnings from Latin America climbed from US$34 million to US$38 million over the comparative periods. At the same time, its Caribbean operations, which include one store in Kingston, Jamaica, saw net income rise from US$11 million from sales of US$551 million to US$14 million from sales of US$596 million.

PriceSmart, headquartered in San Diego, now has six stores in Costa Rica; four each in Panama and Trinidad; three each in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Colombia; two in El Salvador; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua and the United States Virgin Islands.