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Jim Sinegal Bio, Founder of CostCo

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Costco, Jim Sinegal was born on New Year's Day, 1936, in Pittsburgh. A graduate of San Diego State University, Sinegal was a protege of retail pioneer Sol Price, who forwarded the concept of the warehouse store that keeps prices low by reducing frills and dealing in volume, rather than by retailing off-brand merchandise. Price Club stores -- bearing their founder's name -- were built on cheap land outside the usual high-rent retail neighborhoods, and were essentially minimally staffed warehouses that sold only to members, who paid a nominal fee in order to defray overhead. The concept grew in popularity over time, as the economic malaise of the 1970s encouraged customers to literally go the extra mile for their savings.

Sinegal worked with Price, eventually becoming a vice president in the company, and then in 1983 left Price Club to open the Costco Wholesale Club in Seattle, Washington. Though Sinegal competed directly with Price and based his new store on his old one, Costco also offered things Price Club didn't, notably fresh food. The company expanded quickly, adding more and more locations in the US and Canada; the warehouse store industry as a whole grew, and by 1987, both Costco and rival Sam's Club had more stores than Price Club.

By the 1990s, warehouse stores had become a common part of the landscape, and began to encroach on each other. Costco merged with Price Club in 1993 in response to the threat of a takeover by Sam's Club; Sinegal became the CEO, and Robert Price (Sol's successor) the chairman, of PriceCostco Inc. The merger was tumultuous, though, and in 1994, Price left to form Price Enterprises out of half of PriceCostco's international development holdings, several of its warehouses, and its commercial real estate. Sinegal's business partner Jeffrey Brotman succeeded Price as chairman, and in 1997, the company changed its name to Costco Wholesale.

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