“In virtually every m
arket we’re competing with someone.” Jeffrey Brotm
an, CEO Costco, March 1986
– “With a 9% gross margin, there's not muc
h margin for error. We'll see some consolidation.”
Walter Teninga, fo
u
nder, The
Wholesale Club, March 1985
– “What has happened, though, is that the competition became unbelievable, and in many markets which could support
one or two clubs, three or four o
pened.” Kurt B
arn
ard, president, B
arn
ard
E
nterprises, June 1993
– “These markets are not strong enough to support two warehouse outlets. We are abo
ut to find out who is better.”
Jeffrey Brotman, C
hairman, Costco, November 1983
– “When you have a new format, you'll have a number of companies wanting to take advantage of it. Ultimately, the
weaker companies go by the wayside or are bought by other firms.” Joseph Korn
w
asser, P
artner, Korn
w
asser & Friedman,
February 1991
– “The technique is to o
pen one w
arehouse and announce plans for 10
others to try to keep every
one else out of y
our
target cities.”
L
amont Bean, Chairman, Pay ‘n Save, November 1983
– “Events of the past two years have clearly demonstrat
e
d why Price
Club rem
ains the undisputed leader in the
industry… It's withstood the onslaught of nearly 20 competing clubs in the southern California market, as well as its
own cannibalizing warehouse openings. Through it all, Price has maintained positive comparable-warehouse sales
because of its high sal
es-per-warehouse base. Even i
n its newest East Coast warehouses, Price
has been able to generate volumes ranging from $60-80 million a year.” Steve Mandel, analyst, Goldman Sachs,
September 1988
– “It started off with the warehouse club rev
olution, then it was evolution, then market pollution and prostitution.
Now we are in the mode of reconstitution.”