Costco (fully known as the Costco Wholesale Corporation) is the largest warehouse club in the United States, which sells products only to those customers who have a membership in this club. Year by year, Costco is recognized as one of the largest retailers, though this warehouse club gets usually beaten by Amazon and Walmart. Even though the first Costco warehouse was opened just in 1983, this corporation appears to be one of the world’s largest nowadays. At the present time, the number of Costco warehouses scattered across the world reaches 729. On this page, you can not solely find Costco near me, but also find about the Costco locations, hours, and coupons.
Costco’s history takes its origin from Sol Price and Robert Price, the son of Sol, as they decided to open the first Price Club in San Diego on July 12th, 1976. That occurrence was a birth of a new concept – unknown back then yet – called “retail warehouse club.” The family opened their first Price Club in a couple of old plane hangars, which previously belonged to Howard Hughes. There is a Costco warehouse that functions on that site until the present time, and now it is known as the Costco Warehouse No. 401 (instead of the Price Club Warehouse No. 1).
In 1983, Jeffrey H. Brotman and James Sinegal – the latter of whom had previously worked for Sol Price at FedMart – opened the first Costco warehouse in Seattle, Washington. In the meantime, the Price Club received a proposal from Walmart to merge with its chain of warehouse stores Sam’s Club, but refused it. In 1993, both Costco and the Price Club take a decision to merge – business models and the sizes of both businesses were quite similar, so such a decision about the merger raised no questions. The company was rebranded into PriceCostco and members of the club could use their cards in both Costco and Price Club warehouses. However, the Price brothers left the company in 1994 to found an own one, which was followed by the company’s name change into the one we know today and rebranding of all of its warehouses to Costco.
Nowadays, Costco can boast to employ as many as 205,000 employees around the world, as well as having 86 million members. In 2012, there was a documentary released in the United States about this company, which was called “The Costco Craze: Inside the Warehouse Giant.” In 2016, the corporation’s revenues amounted to 118.7 billion, while the market capitalization of Costco is equal to almost 66 billion dollars.
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Costco Location Near Me
At the present time, there are as many as 729 Costco warehouses across the world. 508 out of those warehouses function in 44 states of the United States and Puerto Rico. American states that don’t have even a single Costco warehouse for sure are the following ones: Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Maine. Many of the Costco warehouses are also located in north America and Asia, including 94 warehouses in Canada, 37 warehouses in Mexico, 25 in Japan, 13 in Taiwan, and 13 in South Korea. Apart from those warehouses, 28 warehouses are also based in the United Kingdom, 8 in Australia, 2 in Spain, 1 in Iceland, and 1 in France.
So if you want to find Costco near me or a closest Costco warehouse, you should definitely use this map:
Costco Near Me: Membership
As it was stated above, this discount chain of warehouses is the membership-only, which means that customers without a membership cannot buy almost anything in Costco warehouses – the exceptions are prescription drugs, optical prescriptions, liquor, and gasoline in American and Canadian states. Even though guests are allowed to accompany members of the club, only club members are able to pay for the goods.
Apart from being able to buy goods in Costco warehouses, Costco cards often carry additional benefits, such as an ability to buy more Costco cards, vehicle insurance, travel benefits, home loans, and check printing services. As of 2017, the cost of membership equaled to:
- $60 in the United States for a Gold Star individual card, as well as $60 for Business membership, which can be upgraded a year later to Executive membership for an additional $60 per year.
- Only certain groups of people can apply for a Costco membership in the United Kingdom: trade membership costs 20 GBP and is available to owners and managers of businesses, while qualified and skilled professionals (solicitors, magistrates, surveyors, pharmacists, opticians, engineers, doctors, dentists, architects, and accountants) may apply for individual membership for them and their partners/spouces for 25 GBP.
- In Spain, Business membership costs 25 Euro per year and Gold Star membership costs 30 Euro per year.
- Gold Star membership in Mexico costs 450 Mexican pesos, while Executive membership is priced at 1000 Mexican pesos.
- In Canada, Gold Star and Executive memberships cost 60 and 120 Canadian dollars respectively.
- In Australia, Gold Star and Business memberships cost 60 and 55 Australian dollars respectively.
Costco Opening Hours
Once you have found Costco near me, you may need to get to know about when a particular Costco warehouse is open. Even though it would be better for you to check the official website for this information (because this information may change and Costco warehouses in different places tend to function according to different schedules), typical Costco warehouse hours are the following:
- From 10:00 A.M. to 8:30 P.M. on workdays;
- From 9:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Saturdays;
- From 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Sundays.
Costco Coupons, Promo Codes & Deals
Apart from the obvious deals you get by having a membership in the Costco club, you can also take part in different actions and deals. First of all, read this information on the company’s website. In addition to that, you are able to find really great deals (saving up to 80% per product) on the following websites: