Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation that operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2025, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, the world's largest retailer of beef, poultry, organic produce, and wine, with just under a third of American consumers regularly shopping at Costco warehouses. As of 2026, Costco is ranked 12th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Costco's worldwide headquarters are in Issaquah, Washington, an eastern suburb of Seattle. Its Kirkland Signature house label is named after its former location in Kirkland, another eastern Seattle suburb. The company opened its first warehouse in Seattle in 1983. Through mergers, Costco's corporate history dates back to 1976, when its former competitor Price Club was founded in San Diego, California. Costco originally began with a wholesale business model aimed at enrolling businesses as members, and later began enrolling individual consumers and selling products intended for them, including its own private-label brand.