The World’s First Membership Warehouse Club

Russell Scaramella

Introduction• In 1985, US Oil Holding, LLC, managing member Russell “Russ”

Scaramella was a 19 year old stocker at Price Club in Tucson, Arizona, when he asked his manager if he could help at the soon to open Price Club in Montreal, Canada, with their warehouse merchandising. After that assignment, Russell Scaramella handled special projects for Price Club CEO Robert Price, at times trouble shooting to keep new store openings on schedule and within budget.

Mr. Scaramella later parted ways with Price Club to create his own success story. The company where he initially played a significant role was responsible for an innovative approach to retailing.

Price Club• Sol Price, the father of Robert Price conceived and opened

the world’s first membership warehouse Club in 1976 in San Diego, California. The club started out catering to small businesses, and went on to gain more purchasing power by catering to a chosen market of non-business members. It grew and so began the warehouse club industry.

Merging with Costco in 1993, the combined company was called PriceCostco and later became known as Costco in 1997. Now a global company, in recent years Costco has generated annual sales in excess of $64 billion.