TIP691: Sol Price: The Retail Visionary Behind Costco w/ Clay Finck

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

Stig Brodersen

Education, Investing, Business

4.6 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Clay dives into the life and legacy of Sol Price, the pioneering retail entrepreneur who revolutionized the industry with FedMart and Price Club, ultimately leading to the creation of Costco. The episode explores how Price's business philosophies, including treating employees well and maintaining a relentless focus on providing value to customers, inspired iconic entrepreneurs like Sam Walton and Jeff Bezos. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 01:45 - The story of Sol Price starting Fedmart and Price Club. 19:30 - Sol Price’s core business philosophies 50:47 - The key ingredients to the success of Costco’s business model. 52:58 - What led to the emergence of Costco and the eventual merger with Price Club. 01:01:40 - An overview of Costco’s business model today And so much more! Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Books mentioned: Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary & Social Innovator, and The Joy of Costco. Jim Sinegal’s interview with the Motley Fool. The Science of Hitting Blog. Email Shawn at [email protected] to attend our free events in Omaha or visit this page. Related Episode: Listen to TIP492: The Best Investor You've Never Heard Of. Related Episode: Listen to TIP634: Value Investing Fundamentals w/ John Huber. Follow Clay on Twitter. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes here. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance Tool. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Hardblock SimpleMining Unchained The Bitcoin Way Found Fintool Bluehost Vanta Fintool PrizePicks Onramp TurboTax Fundrise HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Spotify! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it! Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TIP.
0:02.8	Hey, everybody, welcome to the Investors podcast.
0:05.6	I'm your host, Clay Fink.
0:07.4	On today's episode, I'll be telling the story of Saul Price and the foundational beginnings
0:11.7	of Costco.
0:13.1	Saul Price was the founder of Fedmart and Price Club.
0:16.6	Price Club would ultimately merge with Costco in 1993.
0:20.5	When Jim Senegal, the founder of Costco, was asked what he learned from Saul Price, he
0:24.7	mentioned he learned everything from Saul Price.
0:27.7	Somebody like Saul especially catches your attention when you see entrepreneurs like Sam Walton
0:31.9	of Walmart, Bernie Marcus of Home Depot, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon cloning his business
0:37.2	tactics.
0:38.2	During this episode, I'll cover what led Saul to get into the retail business in the first
0:42.2	place, the key ingredients that led to the success of Fed Mart and Price Club, the story of
0:47.3	Costco launching the $1.50 hot dog, which they've kept the same price since its opening
0:51.6	day in 1984, why Saul believed in paying his employees
0:55.1	better than all of his competitors, what led to the merger of Price Club and Costco in
0:59.9	1993, what has allowed Costco to be so dominant over the past 40 years in the ruthlessly
1:05.9	competitive retail industry and much more. Shares of Costco are up nearly 400 times since the IPO in
1:12.2	1985, which makes this a company well worth studying. So with that, I bring you today's episode
1:17.4	on Sol Price and the foundational roots of Costco.
1:24.9	Since 2014 and through more than 180 million downloads,
	...

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