55 Facts About Costco

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

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

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

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

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

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PriceCostco 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.

In 1997, Costco changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation, and all remaining Price Club locations were rebranded.

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

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

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

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

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

Costco opened its first warehouse in China on August 27, 2019, in Shanghai.

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

Additionally, Costco 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.

In New Zealand, the majority of products sold at Costco are sold in bulk or jumbo-sized, in competition with local supermarket chains Woolworths New Zealand and Foodstuffs.

Costco 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 spent approximately $80million on each of the new stores it opened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Costco 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 adopted a policy against purchasing veal from producers that use the crate-and-chain production method.

Costco 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, filmed conditions in which egg-laying hens lived in tiny, wire cages.

Costco 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 was brought to court in the US for lax pharmacy controls by violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

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

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

In September 2020, CBS News reported that Costco has stopped selling Palmetto Cheese after the owner of the pimento cheese brand called Black Lives Matter a "terror organization.

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

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

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

Josh Dahmen, Costco financial planning and investor relations director said that "We are in the process of making that transition to cage-free eggs.