Sol Price, one of the earliest pioneers of the warehouse club channel, died Monday at the age of 93.
Mr. Price, who opened Price Club in San Diego in 1976 in an old airplane hangar that once belonged to Howard Hughes, is widely remembered for his observation extolling the positives of the "intelligent loss of business."
While Mr. Price realized that a strength of his business was not trying to be all things to all people, another was delivering value to Price Club members. A Wall Street Journal report recalled an earlier interview with Fortune. "If you recognize you're really a fiduciary for the customer, you shouldn't make too much money," Mr. Price once told the magazine.
Price Club and Costco merged in 1993, creating PriceCostco Inc., and eventually becoming Costco Companies Inc. in 1997.
Mr. Price along with his son Robert later founded PriceSmart, a smaller warehouse club format operating in 11 countries in Central America and the Caribbean as well as in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Discussion Questions: What do you think are the greatest contributions that Sol Price made to retailing? What is your assessment of the state of the warehouse club industry today?