Price Club was an American warehouse club chain. Founded in 1976, it merged with its competitor, Costco Wholesale, in 1993. The original Price Club warehouse in San Diego, California, is now Costco location number 401.
History
Price Club was founded by Sol Price in 1975 after he was forced out of FedMart, another retail chain he had founded. Price and several friends invested $2.5 million to establish Price Club. The first Price Club location opened on July 12, 1976, in San Diego, at the former site of a manufacturing building previously owned by Howard Hughes.thumb|The original Price Club location is now a Costco
After leaving FedMart, Price noticed that small businesses in San Diego either ordered directly from four or five large wholesalers or they bought locally from relatively small cash-and-carry wholesalers. Therefore, Price Club was originally positioned as a much larger, volume-oriented version of the cash-and-carry wholesale format, meaning that prospective members were required to present resale certificates or professional licenses.
thumb|left|250px|A former Price Club shopping cart
In 1993, Price Club merged with its rival Costco; the combined company was known as PriceCostco. Price Club and Costco initially continued to operate as separate chains, with members of either chain being able to shop at both stores. However, by the following year, Price Enterprises was spun off from the combined company and later established PriceSmart in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. In 1997, PriceCostco became Costco Wholesale Corporation and all remaining Price Clubs were rebranded as Costco.