Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is the largest membership warehouse club
chain in the world based on sales volume, headquartered in Issaquah, Washington,
United States,with its flagship warehouse in nearby Seattle. Costco's Canadian
operations are based in Ottawa, Ontario. It is the fourth biggest general
retailer in the United States, after Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, and Kroger.
In
the mid-1970s, small business owners had no options other than to buy
their products and supplies from regional wholesalers or cash-and-carry operations.
Sol Price set out to offer an alternative. In 1976, with $800,000 of his
own, $1 million raised among local California small business owners, and an additional
$500,000 from former FedMart employees, Price, along with his son Robert,
formed the Price Company and opened the first Price Club store in San Diego.
Price's other son, Laurence, declined to join the new company. |
