Countries with just one lone Costco location include Sweden, Iceland, and New Zealand. Despite that, Australia has 15 warehouses. Along with their physical stores, Costco also offers online storefronts in their larger markets, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and some countries in Asia.
Theoretically the US behemoth could open in any retail park in the country but it's understood Costco did not renew its efforts to open an outlet in Ireland because it feared the planning authorities would not look favourably on such a large-scale store in an area where other businesses were forced to comply with the ...
1. Costco Wholesale in Salt Lake City Costco. Topping the list is the Costco Wholesale in Salt Lake City, Utah, which holds the title of the world's largest Costco.
How Costco Became A Massive "Members Only" Retailer
Why is Costco UK membership restricted?
According to the Costco U.K. website, memberships to those stores are only available to certain groups of people. Since the store is classified as a wholesaler, this complies with the U.K.'s wholesale store laws. These dictate that wholesale stores are only accessible to those working for select business sectors.
In addition to being the largest U.S. state's capital by area, Juneau is also the home to the world's smallest Costco store. The Juneau Costco, built in 1993, with a 76,696 square feet warehouse which is half the size of a regular Costco, was a prototype and one of the few stores of its size.
Although there's no official verification, it's generally accepted that Costco's name originates as an amalgamation of 'Cost Company. ' This is due to the brand's goal of helping customers save money and manage their spending.
Sam's Club is a subsidiary of Walmart, while Costco is a publicly traded company. Costco is considered the original warehouse store, because it began a discount warehouse in 1976 under the name Price Club. Costco as it is known today, opened its doors for the first time in 1983–the same year as Sam's Club.
There are 29 Costco stores in the United Kingdom as of July 15, 2025. The country with the most number of Costco locations in the UK is England, with 25 stores, which is about 86% of all Costco stores in the UK.
No, there is no Costco in Ireland but there are a number of good grocery chains: Dunnes, Supervalu, Centra - all Irish Chains. Aldi, Lidl - German Discount Chains. All of them are good reliable companies.
The ownership structure of Costco (COST) stock is a mix of institutional, retail, and individual investors. Approximately 53.59% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 0.18% is owned by Insiders, and 46.23% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.
New York City? Nope, the busiest Costco in the world offers freshly made poke and is 2,400 miles from the nearest continent in Iwilei, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. When you're so far from mainland farmers, groceries can get expensive.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is, once again, the busiest airport in the world. However, Dubai International Airport processed the most international passengers. Passenger traffic hit a record high in 2024, with some 9.4 billion people traveling by air.
Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation that operates a chain of membership-only warehouse clubs. As of 2015, Costco was the second-largest retailer in the world after Walmart and as of 2016 the largest retailer of choice.
To put it simply: too many returns. Yes, Costco has an incredible return policy. And yes, it wants its members to be happy enough to come back again and again (and pay that annual membership fee). But return abuse is still return abuse, and it costs retailers like Costco a lot of money.
What happens if you get caught using someone else's Costco card?
Costco may cancel your membership if you try to share your account with someone who is not in your household and you get caught. As the website states, “Costco reserves the right to refuse, decline or cancel a membership at any time. … Membership may be terminated at Costco's discretion and without cause.”
