Introduction
Costco is a club with enrolled members with different specialized units that offer different but well-known products to its members in one convenient locality. The aim of Costco is to offer its members the lowest prices possible on quality goods. All the goods offered by Costco are guaranteed and of the best quality possible (Costco.com.au, 2013).
History of Costco
The exclusive membership club, Costco, came into existence in 1976 when Sol and Robert Price solicited for funds from well-wishers and raised 2.5 million US dollars. In the same year, they put up Price Club, which was the first establishment (Costco.com.au, 2013).
Price Club accommodated the commercial clientele only and initially operated in a refurbished airplane garage along Morena Boulevard in California (Costco.com.au, 2013). The business did not do so well in the first year of operation but picked in 1979 by acquiring two locations and realizing over one million US dollars in profits (Costco.com.au, 2013).
The Price establishment offered its stock to the public on 12 July 1980 and two years later, a meeting brought together Jeff Brotman and Jim Sinegal that saw the drawing up of plans to set up a fresh wholesale establishment (Costco.com.au, 2013).
In 1983, Costco establishment came into being in Seattle, Washington and saw an increase of two more locations in Portland and Spokane in the same year (Costco.com.au, 2013). In 1984, the fourth Costco establishment opened in Salt Lake City in Utah with the establishment hitting the one billion dollar mark in sales the same year. By this time, the company operated in five states of America (Costco.com.au, 2013).
In 1985, Costco offered its shares to the public. As the Price establishment celebrated a decade in operation, Forbes Magazine declared it the ‘Best Managed Company’ in 1986 (Costco.com.au, 2013). In the same year, the first pharmacy opened in Portland, Oregon as the Tukwila, WA establishment housed the first fresh meat unit (Costco.com.au, 2013).
A year later, Costco set up its first produce and bakery units as both establishments opened their initial optical laboratories. The year 1988 witnessed the winding up of Mid West Division with shift of focus to East and West Coast sales (Costco.com.au, 2013).
By 1989, Costco had over 46 establishments, as Price Club became the third most lucrative firm in the United States of America. During the same year, the first one-hour photo studio opened in Chula Vista house. In 1992, Costco opened its 100th establishment, located in Miami Lakes in Florida State (Costco.com.au, 2013).
The year 1993 marked a decade since Costco opened and as the celebrations went on, the shareholders of Price and Costco companies approved a merger of the two companies to form PriceCostco Company (Costco.com.au, 2013). The name changed to Costco in 1999 and initiated the two percent reward program, which saw the increase in Executive membership the following year as it started its travel enterprise and opened up two units in Texas (Costco.com.au, 2013).
The company marked its 25th anniversary in 2001 with the shifting of its Canadian business to a regional office in Ottawa. In 2002, Costco set shop in Kansas and Indiana and marked the 36th state of its service in the United States of America. As at 2011, Costco had 592 warehouses all over the world (Costco.com.au, 2013).
Costco Today and Its Location
The company has set up warehouses outside the United States of America namely in Mexico, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Australia. The company serves a membership of 131 million people in its various locations with over 155, 000 staff members distributed in its various warehouses. (Costco.com.au, 2013)
References
Costco.com.au (2013) Costco History. Web.