Costco

Costco Wholesale Corporation
Company typePublic
IndustryRetail
FoundedSeptember 15, 1983 (1983-09-15)
Seattle, Washington, United States
Founders
Headquarters
Issaquah, Washington
,
United States
Number of locations
903 (2025)
Area served
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Iceland
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • New Zealand
  • Puerto Rico
  • Korea
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Taiwan
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Key people
BrandsKirkland Signature
Services
RevenueIncrease US$254.5 billion (2024)
Increase US$9.285 billion (2024)
Increase US$7.367 billion (2024)
Total assetsIncrease US$69.83 billion (2024)
Total equityDecrease US$23.62 billion (2024)
MembersIncrease 136.8 million (2024)
Number of employees
Increase 333,000 (2024)
Websitecostco.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3][4][5]
Original logo (used until 1993, but carried by stores until 1997)

Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores.[6] As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world,[7] and as of August 2024, Costco is the world's largest retailer of beef, poultry, organic produce, and wine, with just under a third of American consumers regularly shopping at Costco warehouses.[8] Costco is ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[9] Costco originally began with a wholesale business model aimed at enrolling businesses as members, then also began to enroll individual consumers and sell products intended for them, including its own private label brand.[10]

Costco's worldwide headquarters are in Issaquah, Washington, an eastern suburb of Seattle, although its Kirkland Signature house label bears the name of its former location in Kirkland. The company opened its first warehouse (the chain's term for its retail outlets) in Seattle in 1983.[11][12] Through mergers, however, Costco's corporate history dates back to 1976, when its former competitor Price Club was founded in San Diego, California.[13][14][15] As of May 2025, Costco operates 905 warehouses worldwide, with 86% of them being in North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico).[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Corporate profile was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Costco AR 20230903 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports August Sales Results". Costco Wholesale. September 1, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  4. ^ "FY 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. October 9, 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports April Sales Results". Costco Wholesale Corporation (Press release). May 7, 2025. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  6. ^ "Costco Wholesale Corporation Company Profile". Hoover's. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  7. ^ "Leading retailers worldwide in 2021, by retail revenue". Statista. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  8. ^ Howe, Ben Ryder (August 20, 2024). "How Costco Hacked the American Shopping Psyche". The New York Times. This article states that FedMart "became" Costco, which is incorrect. Sol Price founded Price Club after leaving FedMart.
  9. ^ "Costco Wholesale". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  10. ^ "What is Costco?". Costco. Archived from the original on December 31, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  11. ^ Bartel, Frank (December 18, 1983). "Costco: The new 'wholesale' club". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. B1. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  12. ^ "Death of Costco co-founder Jeff Brotman, 74, 'a complete shock'". The Seattle Times. August 1, 2017. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  13. ^ and the Canadian head office is situated in Ottawa, Ontario."Costco Wholesale shareholder info". Costco Wholesale. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
  14. ^ "About Costco". Costco Wholesale. Archived from the original on December 31, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  15. ^ "Costco Wholesale Historical Highlights" (PDF). Costco Wholesale. February 12, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2009.

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