What Happened To Costco's Big Competitor Price Club?
For years now, Costco has had a chokehold on the hearts and minds of hungry shoppers around the world. Customers line up outside Costco before it opens, flocking to the warehouse club for its food court, seasonal products, and of course those iconic Costco free samples. Although there are definitely other grocery chains and warehouse clubs out there, for many, Costco reigns supreme.
But Costco's continuous domination of the market isn't just by chance. Throughout the years, Costco has had its share of competition — the biggest of which was Price Club. Price Club had a very similar setup, down to the use of customer membership. But these similarities eventually proved to be quite useful, as Costco went on to absorb Price Club and its locations in 1993. To put it simply, it wasn't that Costco beat out its competition. Instead, it quite literally took it over. Rather than closing Price Club stores, these warehouses were merely rebranded as Costco warehouses and the rest is history.
The history of Price Club
Price Club and Costco's history goes way back to before the 1993 merger. Price Club became a lucrative business thanks to the marketing genius of one of Costco's future co-founders: Jim Sinegal. Both warehouses started from the same concept of offering amazing deals to customers willing to get a warehouse club membership.
The idea stuck and Price Club was born in 1976, quite a few years before Costco was created. The first Costco didn't open until 1983, but once it did, both warehouses saw quite a bit of success. When the '90s came around, Price Club found itself at a unique business crossroads when Sam's Club offered to merge.
Instead, Price Club merged with Costco, temporarily creating PriceCostco. The name proved to be too fussy and it was reverted back to Costco, essentially erasing the Price Club branding. By 1997, Price Club was fully merged with Costco and its individuality as a brand ceased to exist. But thanks to Costco rotisserie chickens and food court hot dogs, Price Club's legacy may somehow live on through seemingly never-ending Costco treasure hunts.