The ENTIRE History of Costco in 22 Minutes

Costco history and the Sol Price and Jim Sinegal story: how Costco started as an empty warehouse owned by a lawyer's mother-in-law and became a 939-warehouse giant, built on a plastic membership card. This Costco history documentary covers Sol Price, Jim Sinegal, Jeff Brotman, FedMart, Price Club, the Costco membership model, the $1.50 hot dog, the Tiffany lawsuit, the 2026 tariff refund fight and the Costco business model. In fiscal 2026, Costco collected $5.907 billion in membership fees, about half of its $11.685 billion operating income, while 84.1 million paid members renewed at 92.3 percent in the US and Canada. A hot dog and a soda has cost $1.50 since 1985. This documentary follows the complete history of Costco: Sol Price born in the Bronx in 1916, Fedco in Los Angeles, FedMart in San Diego in 1954, the empty warehouse and the two-dollar membership, a teenage Jim Sinegal bagging groceries, Sam Walton borrowing the FedMart name, Hugo Mann buying FedMart in 1975, Sol Price pushed out at sixty, Price Club opening in July 1976, Robert Price, Jeff Brotman's cold call to Sinegal, investor Fred Paulsell, the first Costco in Seattle on September 15, 1983, Sam's Club, $1 billion in sales by 1986, the 14 percent markup cap, the membership card model and the loop, 92.3 percent renewals, Executive membership, the 1993 PriceCostco merger, the Pace collapse in 1994, Kirkland Signature in 1995, the 1985 hot dog and Craig Jelinek's hot dog factories, the $4.99 rotisserie chicken, Canada, Mexico, Japan and the 2019 Shanghai opening, the Tiffany lawsuit from 2013 to 2021, the 2016 wage raise to $13, Jeff Brotman's death in 2017, Sinegal leaving the board in 2018, Ron Vachris from forklift driver to CEO, the 2024 fee increase to $65 and $130, card scanning at the entrance, the January 2025 Teamsters deadline and diversity vote, the tariff refund lawsuit, the February 2026 Supreme Court ruling, the Illinois class action, and Costco's fiscal 2026 results. Timestamps: 0:00 — Walk up to a Costco ona Saturday morning 2:00 — Even Price Club, the original warehouse club, is gone, its name retired from the signs in1997. 5:00 — In 1955, a teenager named Jim Sinegal took a job there, bagging groceries for the customers. 8:00 — On a flight to Seattle, Brotman met venture capitalist Fred Paulsell, who later backed thenew company. 12:00 — It only needs you to feel, at the end of the year, that the card paid for itself. 16:00 — Then came January 2025. Costco's roughly 18,000 Teamsters had voted, by about 85percent, to authorize a strike. 21:00 — If members start to feel the card is just a fee, the whole loop runs backward. Being fired at sixty could not stop Sol Price. The copycats of 1983 could not stop Costco. A diamond ring lawsuit could not finish it. And in 2026, Costco's oldest idea, the membership card, is being tested by tariff refunds, online sign-ups that renew less often, and a member's lawsuit. This Costco documentary is built on company filings, court records, founder profiles, and verified reporting. Every Rooted In You episode tells the full story of a company, from founder to today, and reveals the one thing it was really built on. SOURCES Costco Wholesale Corporation (2026), Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Operating Results, press release, September 24, 2026 Costco Wholesale Corporation (2026), Form 10-K, Fiscal Year Ended August 30, 2026, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Costco Wholesale Corporation (2026), Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call, September 24, 2026 Price, R., Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary and Social Innovator Walton, S. with Huey, J. (1992), Sam Walton: Made in America, Doubleday Boyle, M. (2006), "Why Costco Is So Damn Addictive," Fortune Zimmerman, A. (2004), "Costco's Dilemma: Be Kind to Its Workers, or Wall Street?," The Wall Street Journal Supermarket News (2012), "2012 Hall of Fame: Sol Price" Fortune (2017), "Costco Chairman and Co-Founder Jeff Brotman Has Died," August 1, 2017 Tiffany & Co. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2020) CNBC (2021), "Tiffany, Costco settle 8-year lawsuit over fake Tiffany rings," July 19, 2021 Anchorage Daily News (2025), "Costco shareholders reject anti-DEI proposal pushed by activists," January 25, 2025 Retail TouchPoints (2025), "Costco Sues for a Refund if Supreme Court Finds Trump Tariffs Illegal," December 2, 2025 Reuters (2026), "Costco customers sue for share of refunds from Trump tariffs," March 12, 2026 #CostcoHistory #Costco #HowCostcoWorks #CostcoBusinessModel #CostcoMembership #JimSinegal #SolPrice #PriceClub #KirklandSignature #BusinessDocumentary #HistoryDocumentary #CompanyHistory #RetailHistory #RootedInYou