Do you know the famous Costco hot dog and soda combo is still sold at the same price as it was priced 21 years ago? Do you know Costco approximately sold 100,000 carats of diamonds last year? If you are a fan of Costco too, then this article is a must read for you. Now called Costco Wholesale Corporation and originally founded as Price Club, it is the largest only membership warehouse in the U.S.

The club was founded by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman on 12 July, 1976 in San Diego, and today, it operates from 672 warehouses (as of 2014), with headquarters in Issaquah, Washington. Providing a wide medley of merchandise, it has grown to become the third largest retailer in the U.S. and the second largest in the world.
Sales Model:

Costco is famous worldwide for its unique selling model, which allows it to sell products at guaranteed lowest prices. They play on a model where they try and sell one type of product from a single manufacturer, allowing bagging more discounts and packaging it further in larger qualities for businesses and families, saving on money further. Great example is Coco-Cola when it withdrew the products from its shelves in November 2009 announcing its price being too high for the brand to sell it.

Learn top 10 surprising facts about the World’s favorite chain:

1. Hard to belief, but Costco is the largest pizza chain of America.

2. They created records once by offering barrels of Jack Daniels whiskey. It is also the largest importer of French wines (big labels).

3. If you join there as an employee, be sure you will be paid best as per industry standards as compared to their competitors.

4. In 2013, Bibles were erroneously labeled as “fiction” for a short time. They later apologized for this blaming their distributors.

5. As per IMDb, the apple pie shown in the movie “American Pie” was shopped from Costco.

6. Costco has been always in news for having tiffs with big brands including Apple, Starbucks, Coca-Cola etc.

7. This company is known for its rare business moves, for example they don’t hire B-School graduates.

8. Costco buys half of the total supply of world’s cashew.

9. Interestingly, they provide you discounted travel packages to places like Eurpoe, Las Vegas and Hawaii.

10. They also distribute movie vouchers and gift cards from time to time. Their membership price is refundable, you can claim it anytime.

11. There are no limits to samples. Also, they are popular for giving discounts on large items like boats, cars, etc.

12. For non-members, they get free home delivery facility with Instacart and also can use their pharmacy which sells cheapest genetic drugs.

13. Their raw meat deals are the best. Last year, it sold approx. 106 million pounds of fresh ground beef.

14. Surprisingly, it’s also famous for its optical collection and is the fifth largest optical company in the U.S.

15. Its Hearing Aid Center is one of the biggest sovereign retailers of hearing aids in the U.S.

16. They also have their in-house personal finance services including personally tailored checks.

17. They are famous for their biggest closeout sale which follows just after the holidays.

18. Costco’s first store was a converted airplane hangar, an enclosed building to hold aircraft, and the store is still operational today.

19. Costco’s main layout section is called: The Race Track and they label to sell two types of variants: Triggers and Treasures.

20. Costco doesn’t have a PR to handle their publicity; also they practically make no profit from everything they sell.