Costco
American multinational membership-only warehouse club chain / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Costco Wholesale Corporation (commonly shortened to Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores.[4] As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world[5] and is the world's largest retailer of choice and prime beef, organic foods, rotisserie chicken, and wine as of 2016[update].[6] Costco is ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[7] Costco uses a club warehouse wholesale retailer channel of distribution while also selling their private label brand directly to consumers.[8]
Company type | Public |
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Industry | Retail |
Founded | September 15, 1983; 40 years ago (1983-09-15) (as Costco) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Founders | |
Headquarters | , US |
Number of locations | 876[1][2] (2024) |
Area served |
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Key people |
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Brands | Kirkland Signature |
Services | |
Revenue | US$242.3 billion[3] (2023) |
US$8.114 billion[3] (2023) | |
US$6.292 billion[3] (2023) | |
Total assets | US$68.99 billion[3] (2023) |
Total equity | US$25.06 billion[3] (2023) |
Members | 132.0 million[1] (2024) |
Number of employees | 316,000[3] (2023) |
Website | costco.com |
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.[9][10] Through mergers, however, Costco's corporate history dates back to 1976, when its former competitor Price Club was founded in San Diego, California.[11][12][13] As of April 2024[update], Costco has 876 warehouses worldwide: 600 in the United States, 108 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 4 in Puerto Rico, 33 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in South Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, 6 in China, 4 in Spain, 2 in France, 1 in Iceland, 1 in New Zealand, and 1 in Sweden.[1][2]