COST

Costco Wholesale Corp /new

A membership warehouse club that sells groceries, fresh foods, electronics, and household goods in bulk at low prices across hundreds of warehouses in more than a dozen countries, plus its own Kirkland Signature private-label brand. It traces its roots to Sol Price's Price Club, the world's first membership warehouse, opened in 1976 in San Diego; co-founder Jim Sinegal, a Price protégé, opened the first Costco in Seattle in 1983, and the two chains merged in 1993. Fun fact: the Kirkland Signature name came from Kirkland, Washington, where Costco's headquarters sat when the brand launched in 1995 — Sinegal had wanted "Seattle Signature" but couldn't clear the name.