53 Facts About Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores .

Costco Wholesale opened its first warehouse in Seattle Through mergers Costco's corporate history dates back to 1976, when its former competitor Price Club was founded in San Diego, California.

Costco Wholesale launched an initial public offering in 1980 and expanded to 24 locations in the Southwest and 1.

Costco Wholesale announced plans to open stores in Spain and Portugal through their Canadian subsidiary.

Costco Wholesale was initially headquartered at its first warehouse in Seattle, but moved its headquarters to Kirkland in 1987.

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PriceCostco Wholesale was initially led by executives from both companies, but in 1994, the Price brothers left the company to form PriceSmart, a warehouse club chain in Central America and the Caribbean unrelated to the current Costco Wholesale.

In 2005, Costco Wholesale replaced its first Seattle warehouse with a new warehouse on an adjacent lot.

Costco Wholesale was able to arrange to keep the same address for the new building.

In 2014, Costco Wholesale was the third largest retailer in the United States.

That year Costco Wholesale announced plans to open an online store in China using Alibaba Group.

Costco Wholesale announced the opening of 29 new locations in 2016, the most in one year since 2007.

Costco Wholesale was the first company to grow from zero to $3billion in sales in under six years.

Additionally, Costco Wholesale has led a strategic initiative to enhance the merchandise mix available at international warehouses by tailoring products to local tastes, offering a selection of both American and local products.

Costco Wholesale is a membership-only warehouse which generates a majority of its revenue from retail sales and a small percentage from membership fees.

For example, in November 2009, Costco announced that it would stop selling Coca-Cola products, because the soft-drink maker refused to lower its wholesale prices.

In 2013, Costco Wholesale spent approximately $80million on each of the new stores it opened.

Costco Wholesale has no public relations department and buys no outside advertising.

Costco Wholesale is known for its "exit greeters", who briefly compare receipts against shopping cart contents as customers exit.

Costco Wholesale has used exit greeters since its first store in 1983.

Costco Wholesale primarily focuses on getting members to come in to a warehouse for purchases, instead of ordering products online.

Similarly, in March 2017, Costco Wholesale initiated a partnership with Shipt, an online grocery delivery service.

In October 2017, Costco Wholesale launched same-day and two-day grocery delivery options for members.

Costco Wholesale has a frequently changing inventory and is known for carrying products for a time, then discontinuing them or using them as seasonal products.

In 2006, Costco Wholesale lost a lawsuit against the state of Washington in which it was seeking to purchase wine directly from the producer, bypassing the state retail monopoly.

Costco Wholesale introduced Kirkland Signature in 1995, deriving the name from the location of Costco Wholesale's then corporate headquarters, Kirkland, Washington.

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Costco Wholesale Connection is a magazine sent free to the Costco Wholesale executive members; it can be accessed online by anyone, free of charge.

Costco Wholesale publishes the Costco Wholesale Household Almanac, an annual edition started in 2007.

Costco Wholesale offers a free "concierge" service to members who purchase electronics, to help answer questions regarding setup and use and avoid potential returns due to not understanding how to use the products.

Costco Wholesale has an agreement with CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance, for auto insurance, home insurance and umbrella insurance.

Costco Wholesale Photo Center is a multi-functional photography printing service offering photo items through its website, costcophotocenter.

Costco Travel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Costco Wholesale and offers leisure travel to Costco members of the United States and Canada.

In 1985, Costco Wholesale started to sell freshly prepared food through a hot dog cart at its original Seattle warehouse.

Costco Wholesale sold more than 137million quarter-pound hot dogs in its food courts in 2017.

AmEx cited the reason for the split that Costco Wholesale was asking for lower transaction fees than AmEx was willing to grant.

In Canada, Costco Wholesale ended its AmEx relationship in 2014, and starting in 2015, it partnered with Capital One Mastercard for branded credit cards.

Costco Wholesale branded credit cards from both issuers serve as alternate Costco Wholesale membership cards, with a customized reverse side containing membership info.

In March 2021, Costco Wholesale started selling audiobooks and launched a corresponding iOS and Android app to listen to purchases.

In February 2021, Costco Wholesale announced that it would be raising the starting rate for its hourly store workers in the United States to $16 an hour.

Costco Wholesale has been actively raising their minimum wage starting with $14 during 2018, and into $15 during 2019.

Costco Wholesale uses Club Demonstration Services, based in San Diego, California.

Costco Wholesale claimed that, similar to its main warehouses, it accepted lower margins in return for greater volume with minimal overhead.

Costco Wholesale cited cutbacks in consumer spending on home products and its interest in focusing on its core business as the main reasons.

Immediately following the investigative release, Costco Wholesale adopted a policy against purchasing veal from producers that use the crate-and-chain production method.

In 2014, The Guardian reported that Costco Wholesale is a client of Charoen Pokphand Foods.

Costco Wholesale has published a statement saying it has had a supplier code of conduct since 1999 which does not allow this practice, and that independent auditors check for violations regularly.

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An undercover worker at Hillandale Farms, a major egg supplier to Costco Wholesale, filmed conditions in which egg-laying hens lived in tiny, wire cages.

Costco Wholesale denied the allegations, but the video sparked a discussion about animal welfare problems continuing to exist at cage-free egg farms.

In January 2017, Costco Wholesale was brought to court in the US for lax pharmacy controls by violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Allegations such as Costco Wholesale "filling prescriptions that were incomplete", or were for substances "beyond various doctors' scope of practice".

Costco Wholesale was criticised in 2019 by the Natural Resources Defense Council and SumOfUs for using virgin Canadian boreal forest to make its toilet paper.

In October 2020, Costco Wholesale dropped Chaokoh coconut milk over the allegations of forced monkey labor.

Kimble stated that Costco Wholesale will continue to monitor the implementation of the harvest policies and once satisfied will resume purchasing.

In December 2020, Costco Wholesale announced plans to end the use of eggs from caged chickens throughout its operations worldwide.