Where You Can Find The Biggest Costco In The World
Costco has 842 store locations worldwide, including 579 locations in the United States, and more than 118 million cardholders. It has stores in such faraway places as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. It's a big box retailer known for slinging items in bulk at discounted prices, as well as its popular house brand Kirkland products.
The company has received plaudits for its shrewd business approach that some say gives it a competitive advantage over other retailers. It has also garnered a positive reputation for paying its employees higher average wages than competitors (via Investopedia). And then there is Costco's famed $1 hot dog deal that always keeps the hungry masses coming back for more.
These stores are typically pretty massive — the average size of a Costco warehouse is 146,000 square feet — but if you want to make a pilgrimage to the biggest Costco in the world, then you'll need to plan a trip to the Beehive State.
The biggest of the big boxes
You might have expected the world's largest Costco to be located somewhere like China. After all, China is the most populous country on earth, so you would think its consumers would need more warehouse space to get what they need without struggling through crowds.
Instead, the title of Biggest Costco on the Planet belongs to the Salt Lake City store in Utah, which opened in its expanded form in 2015 (via Only in Your State). Part of the reason this particular Costco is so big is because it was remodeled as a hybrid store housing both a warehouse store and a business center in one space. In addition to being the biggest store at a whopping 235,000 square feet, the Salt Lake City Costco was also the first ever to serve as a hybrid location, per Deseret News. Considering the thousands of products this store is able to hold, it's little surprise that its main customer base is coffee shops, educational institutions, and other stores.
You'd better bring your walking shoes when you visit this Costco, as hiking a perimeter loop around the store measures out to roughly a third of a mile. But just remember that you'll have plenty of discounted food and beverage items to grab on your long journey should you grow hungry or thirsty from wandering around these massive aisles.