PriceSmart is a membership-based warehouse club chain headquartered in San Diego, California, USA. As of 2016, PriceSmart has 44 locations in 12 countries. In the United States, PriceSmart operates 14 warehouses in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, Puerto Rico and Texas.
PriceSmart was founded in 1976 by Sol Price and Robert Price. Sol Price had previously founded FedMart and successfully transformed the retail industry. The Prices decided to apply the same model to the international market and created PriceSmart. The first PriceSmart warehouse opened in San Diego in 1976.
The company expanded rapidly throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1998, PriceSmart went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol PSMT.
Costco is a membership-only warehouse club that provides a wide selection of merchandise. As of 2016, Costco has 715 locations in 11 countries. Costco was founded in 1976 by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman. Costco’s first warehouse was located in Seattle, Washington.
Costco expanded rapidly throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1993, Costco merged with Price Club, which was founded by Sol Price. The merger created a warehouse club chain with 206 locations in the United States and Canada. After the merger, the new company was renamed Costco Companies, Inc.
Is PriceSmart owned by Costco?
While PriceSmart was founded by Sol Price, who also founded FedMart (which later became part of Walmart), it is not currently owned by Costco. The two companies did merge in 1993 to form Costco Companies Inc., but they were eventually split back into their original entities in 2009/2010.
