Warehouse Club

A warehouse club is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers are required to buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters and small business owners. The clubs are able to keep prices low due to the no-frills format of the stores. In addition, customers may be required to pay annual membership fees in order to shop.

The concept is similar to the consumers' cooperative supermarkets found in Europe, though using bigger stores and not co-operatively owned. The use of members' prices without co-operative ownership is also sometimes used in bars and casinos.

History

A BJ's Wholesale club in Virginia

Sol Price founded FedMart in 1954, an early US discount store. Sol and his son Robert Price founded Price Club in San Diego in 1976 as the first warehouse club. In 1982 discount pioneer John F. Geisse founded The Wholesale Club of Indianapolis, which he sold to Sam's Club in 1991. 

In 1983, Costco Wholesale, PACE Wholesale Club and Sam's Club started operations. BJ's Wholesale Club was started in 1984 by former The Wholesale Club executives and owned by Zayre.

As of 2010^[update], four warehouse club chains operate in the United States. Costco and Sam's Club are the largest hains. Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, claims a membership base of 46 million persons and 602 stores across the United States. Costco has locations in seven other nations including Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Australia. BJ's Wholesale Club is one of two smaller competitors with stores located primarily in the Eastern United States. FedMart has survived as a small company owned by West Coast enterpriser Donald L. Kirk. In January 2009, Kirk announced plans to again expand FedMart; opening two new FedMart stores in 2009, in currently vacant former department store buildings; as well as opening an online FedMart Clearance/Closeout store.

Alcohol sales without a membership in the U.S.

Many jurisdictions prohibit the discounting of liquor for promotional reasons, meaning that even in warehouse clubstores, members and non-members will pay the same price. Several examples in the United States are included below;

• Arkansas
• Arizona
• California
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• New York
• Ohio
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia

Examples

• Costco Wholesale, operates in the U.S., Canada, UK and other countries
• Sam's Club, operates in the U.S. and other countries
• BJ's Wholesale Club, operates in the U.S. only
• Makro, operates in Europe, previously operated in the U.S.
• PriceSmart, operates in Central America and Caribbean