此前在仓储式会员店的产业观察系列中，有从业者与消费者提问：现代仓储式会员制零售赛道，山姆与Costco两大头部品牌究竟谁是业态鼻祖？我们曾提及这一溯源背后藏着行业早期发展的关键脉络，二者并非简单的模仿与被模仿关系，行业初期的创业传承、业态迭代的故事性极强，下文将完整还原产业发展史实，评判权交由各位读者。
首先需要明确业态边界的定义：部分声音将古代专属消费场景的会员制折扣（如南宋杭州文娱场所的预付会员制折扣体系）视作业态雏形，从产业传承性视角来看，这类零散的非标准化模式并未形成可复制的规模化零售方法论，也未对现代零售业态的演化产生直接技术传导，不属于现代仓储会员制的溯源范畴。行业公认的近代仓储折扣店探索起点是1954年索尔·普莱斯（Sol Price）创立的FedMart，这家企业首次落地了“付费准入+大包装折扣+精简场景”的核心框架，一度在美国零售市场实现高速渗透。为支撑跨区域扩张，FedMart1975年对外释放63%股权引入德国曼恩集团（MAN Group）作为战略投资方，但外资入主后的次年（1976年），索尔·普莱斯父子因控制权冲突被踢出核心管理团队，被迫出局。
彼时已年近60岁的索尔·普莱斯并未选择通过股权变现退出零售赛道，反而基于此前在FedMart积累的所有业态经验，于1976年牵头创立Price Club（普莱斯会员店）——这家企业是全球商业研究领域公认的第一家具备完整现代范式的仓储会员制卖场，首次明确了“高门槛会员费覆盖运营成本+全链路选品精简SKU+仓储式合一场地降本+批零结合的定价模型”四大核心底层规则，直接定义了后续整个赛道的运行逻辑。
索尔·普莱斯在运营FedMart时期，核心骨干团队中有一位名为吉姆·辛内加尔（Jim Sinegal，哈佛商业评论标准译名）的核心管理者，是其一手培养的业态核心操盘手。索尔被踢出FedMart后，辛内加尔并未同步离开，后续凭借专业能力晋升至FedMart执行副总裁岗位，直到1979年因与外资管理层的战略方向出现不可调和的分歧才正式离职，随后便加入了师父创办的Price Club，出任执行副总裁，全程参与了这套现代仓储会员制体系的落地打磨。这一阶段，标准化的仓储会员制赛道基本由Price体系独家定义，尚无同维度竞争对手。而失去核心创始团队掌控的FedMart，在曼恩集团管理层的主导下逐步将门店改造为欧洲主流的综合大卖场业态，脱离了仓储会员的差异化赛道，加之后续非相关多元化扩张带来的持续亏损，最终于1982年申请破产清算，彻底退出历史舞台。
1982年，西雅图本土零售从业者杰夫·布罗特曼（Jeff Brotman）向吉姆·辛内加尔发出联合创业邀请：此时的辛内加尔已经拥有30年零售全链路实操经验，亲眼见证了Price Club模式的跑通与爆发性增长，坚信这套业态是折扣零售领域的下一代主流方向，同时在职业经理人岗位上始终缺乏完全自主落地商业理念的土壤，因此决定从Price Club离职创业，二人联合完成了完整的业态商业计划书，为了规避与Price Club的直接区域竞争，将首家门店的落地选址锁定在西雅图，正式启动项目。
在项目筹备阶段，另一个核心玩家快速入场：当时沃尔玛集团已经拥有330家线下门店，创始人山姆·沃尔顿精准捕捉到了Price Club的模式红利，最初尝试直接收购Price Club切入赛道，遭到索尔·普莱斯的明确拒绝。沃尔玛随即走自主研发路径，1983年4月以创始人名字命名的首家山姆会员店在俄克拉荷马州开业，正式以挑战者身份向Price主导的赛道发起竞争。同年9月，吉姆·辛内加尔团队的首家门店在西雅图落地，也就是全球第一家Costco门店。至此现代仓储会员店赛道正式形成三足鼎立格局：作为业态定义者的Price Club、作为徒弟创业项目的Costco、作为头部零售跨界入局者的山姆会员店，三方展开了近10年的市场化竞争。
行业发展至1993年，赛道增长红利见顶，整体销售增速大幅放缓，行业竞争进入白热化阶段：山姆会员店依托沃尔玛的供应链与资金优势快速扩张，以250家门店规模暂时位列赛道第一；Price Club拥有94家门店，Costco拥有102家门店，二者规模处于同一量级。此时山姆会员店再次发起对Price Club的并购邀约，再度遭到索尔·普莱斯拒绝。最终Price Club选择与模式同源、基因匹配度更高的Costco合并，形成了行业版的“孙刘联合抗曹”格局，合并后的新主体命名为PriceCostco。从股权结构来看，合并后Costco持股52%、Price Club原股东持股48%，交易实质是Costco对Price Club的收购整合，至此由索尔·普莱斯开创的全套现代仓储会员制核心范式，完整传承至以辛内加尔为核心的Costco体系手中。
回溯完整产业演化路径，关于仓储式会员制零售的业态鼻祖归属，答案显然既不属于后发入局的山姆，也不能简单归因于合并后的Costco，真正的范式开创者是Price Club的创始人索尔·普莱斯，而Costco是这一原生业态体系的正统传承者，山姆则是赛道内凭借零售巨头资源走出独立扩张路径的头部跟随者。
In previous installments of our industrial observation series on warehouse‑style membership retail, practitioners and consumers have raised a question: in the modern warehouse‑based membership retail track, who is the original pioneer of the format — Sam’s Club or Costco? As previously noted, behind this origin‑tracing question lie key threads of the industry’s early‑stage development. The relationship between the two brands is far from a simple imitator‑and‑original dynamic. The early‑day entrepreneurial heritage and format iteration make for a compelling industry narrative. Below is a full reconstruction of factual industrial history, leaving final judgment to readers.
First, the format boundary must be clearly defined. Some sources cite ancient membership‑based discount consumption scenarios — for instance, the prepaid membership‑discount systems of entertainment venues in Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty — as embryonic forms of this retail model. From the perspective of industrial continuity, these fragmented, non‑standardized practices failed to produce replicable, large‑scale retail methodologies. Nor did they generate direct technical spillover for the evolution of modern retail formats, so they fall outside the scope of modern warehouse‑membership retail origins. The widely‑acknowledged starting point for modern warehouse‑discount retail is FedMart, founded by Sol Price in 1954. FedMart pioneered the core framework of paid entry privileges, large‑format bulk discounts, and streamlined store environments, and once achieved rapid market penetration across the United States.
To support cross‑regional expansion, FedMart sold a 63 % equity stake in 1975, bringing in Germany’s MAN Group as a strategic investor. Yet one year following the foreign‑capital takeover, in 1976, Sol Price and his son were ousted from core management amid control‑right conflicts.
Nearly 60 years old at that point, Sol Price chose not to cash out and exit retail. Drawing on all the format insights accumulated at FedMart, he founded Price Club in 1976. Widely recognized in global business research as the world’s first full‑paradigm modern warehouse‑membership warehouse store, Price Club formalized four foundational operating principles: high‑threshold membership fees to cover operating costs; end‑to‑end curated, streamlined SKU assortments; combined warehouse‑and‑retail premises for cost reduction; and a hybrid wholesale‑retail pricing model. These rules directly shaped the operating logic for the entire subsequent industry.
During Sol Price’s FedMart tenure, one key member of his core leadership circle was Jim Sinegal, a hand‑picked operator instrumental to building the format. After Sol Price was forced out of FedMart, Sinegal stayed on. He rose to Executive Vice‑President by virtue of his professional capabilities. He departed only in 1979 over irreconcilable strategic disagreements with the foreign‑owned management, then joined the Price Club founded by his former mentor as Executive Vice‑President. He took full part in refining and rolling out this complete modern warehouse‑membership system. In this era, the standardized warehouse‑membership track was almost exclusively defined by the Price ecosystem, with no comparable competitors. Stripped of its founding leadership, FedMart under MAN Group’s management gradually converted its outlets into conventional European‑style hypermarkets, abandoning its differentiated warehouse‑membership positioning. Sustained losses from unrelated‑diversification ventures followed, and FedMart filed for bankruptcy liquidation in 1982, exiting the market permanently.
In 1982, Seattle‑based retail entrepreneur Jeff Brotman extended a co‑founding invitation to Jim Sinegal. By then Sinegal possessed 30 years of end‑to‑end retail operational experience. He had witnessed the proven viability and explosive growth of the Price Club model and believed firmly that this format represented the next mainstream direction for discount retail. As a professional manager, however, he lacked full autonomy to execute his business vision. He therefore resigned from Price Club to launch a new venture alongside Brotman. The pair finalized a comprehensive business plan. To avoid direct geographic competition with Price Club, they selected Seattle for their inaugural location and kicked off the project.
Meanwhile another major competitor entered the arena. Walmart already operated 330 physical stores. Founder Sam Walton saw the upside of the Price Club model and first attempted to acquire Price Club outright to enter the segment, an offer firmly rejected by Sol Price. Walmart then pursued in‑house development. In April 1983, the first Sam’s Club — named for its founder — opened in Oklahoma, formally challenging the Price‑defined market. That September, Jim Sinegal’s team opened its first store in Seattle: the world’s very first Costco location.
The modern warehouse‑membership retail track now featured a three‑player competitive landscape: Price Club, originator of the format; Costco, the venture founded by Price’s protégé; and Sam’s Club, the entrant backed by a major retail conglomerate. The three sides competed commercially for roughly a decade.
By 1993, the track’s high‑growth dividend faded. Overall sales growth slowed sharply and competition intensified. Leveraging Walmart’s supply‑chain and capital advantages, Sam’s Club expanded aggressively and claimed the top spot with 250 stores. Price Club operated 94 locations, while Costco ran 102, placing them at comparable scale. Sam’s Club renewed its acquisition overture toward Price Club, once more turned down by Sol Price. Ultimately Price Club opted to merge with Costco, its ideological peer with closely aligned business DNA — an industry parallel to the historic “Sun‑Liu alliance against Cao”. The combined entity was named PriceCostco. Under the deal structure, Costco held 52 % equity and legacy Price Club shareholders retained 48 %, making the transaction effectively an acquisition and integration of Price Club by Costco. With this merger, the full set of foundational warehouse‑membership retail paradigms pioneered by Sol Price passed into the Costco ecosystem under Jim Sinegal’s leadership.
Reviewing this full industrial evolution, the true originator of warehouse‑style membership retail is neither Sam’s Club, a later‑stage entrant, nor the post‑merger Costco. The paradigm‑setting trailblazer was Sol Price, founder of Price Club. Costco stands as the legitimate inheritor of this original format system, while Sam’s Club represents a leading fast‑follower that scaled independently drawing on the resources of a retail giant.