The Knowledge Project
Sol Price: The Retail Legend Who Taught Sam Walton, Jim Sinegal, and Jeff Bezos [Outliers]
12 Aug 2025
The most influential retailer you’ve never heard of. How Sol Price invented the warehouse club and a philosophy that still runs Costco and Amazon. Have you ever wondered why you can still buy a hot dog and soda for $1.50 today at Costco? We can thank Sol Price for that. To him, keeping promises to customers mattered more than profit margins. Sam Walton said he borrowed more ideas from Sol Price than anyone else. Jim Sinegal of Costco said, “I didn’t learn a lot from Sol. I learned everything.” Jeff Bezos studied him. Home Depot echoed him. He invented the warehouse club, pioneered membership retail and built two multi-billion-dollar companies. The real lessons aren’t about what he built, but how he did it. This is the story of how a lawyer with no retail experience created an industry, mentored his competition, and proved that nice guys don't always finish last. Sol Price founded FedMart and Price Club, pioneering the membership warehouse model that inspired Costco and Sam’s Club. His principles—limited selection, fair wages, capped markups, no loss leaders—shaped modern retail through disciples like Jim Sinegal (Costco), Sam Walton (Walmart/Sam’s Club), Bernie Marcus (Home Depot), and influenced Jeff Bezos (Prime). ------ Approximate Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:01) Early Years (08:29) Starting FedMart (28:33) Price Club (36:19) When Students Surpass the Teacher (42:09) The Teacher's Last Lesson (43:46) Reflections And Lessons ------ Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ fs.blog/membership ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter ------ Follow Shane Parrish X @ShaneAParrish Insta @farnamstreet LinkedIn Shane Parrish ------ This episode is for informational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
What does it take to build an empire? For Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, it took a lot of hard work, a little genius, and one crucial ingredient, theft, or as he preferred to call it, borrowing. In his autobiography, Sam freely admitted, I've stolen, I prefer borrowed, as many ideas from Sol Price as from anyone else in the business. He wasn't the only one.
Jim Sinegal, co-founder of Costco, was even more direct when a reporter called him one day and said, No, that's inaccurate. I didn't learn a lot. I learned everything I know. Jeff Bezos did the same thing. So did the founders of Home Depot. The list goes on. All of these people pointed back to one man, Saul Price. A man most people have never heard of.
A man who never sought the spotlight, but whose shadow covers the entire landscape of modern retail. A man who didn't just create a business, but a school of thought. His classroom was the warehouse, and his students changed the world. Welcome to The Knowledge Project. I'm your host, Shane Parrish.
In a world where knowledge is power, this podcast is your toolkit for mastering the best what other people have already figured out. This is the story of Sol Price, a man who invented the warehouse club, pioneered membership retail and quietly revolutionized how 300 million people plus shop today. He started FedMart and Price Club, which sold to Jim Senegal, one of his protégés at Costco.
His innovations touch everything from how workers get paid to why you can still buy a hot dog and soda for $1.50 today at Costco. But Saul Price's real genius wasn't in what he built. It was how he did it. This is the story of how a lawyer with no retail experience created an industry, mentored his competition, and proved that nice guys don't always finish last. It's time to listen and learn.
In the third grade, Sol Price dipped a girl's ponytail into his inkwell. When his mother got called to the school, the teacher delivered a prophecy that would follow him forever. Your son is very smart, Ms. Price, but he could go in one of two directions. He could become a gangster or he could become someone who does much good. Think about that for a moment.
The teacher saw gangster potential in an eight-year-old boy. Why? Because even then, Saul didn't just break the rules. He understood them so well that he could bend them. The drooping left eyelid that other kids teased him about, it had already made him an outsider who saw things differently. When Saul was 11 years old, his father, Sam, got tuberculosis. The doctor's prescription was simple.
Move to California for the dry air. So the family packed up and drove from New York to San Diego. But here's where Saul learned his first real business lesson, though not the way you'd think. His father had somehow gotten disability insurance policy from Equitable Life, $500 a month as long as he couldn't work. For the next 22 years until he died in 1949, Sam Price never worked another day.
Saul would later joke that his father lived in grave danger of getting well. Now, think about what young Saul saw every day. His mother, Bella, worked her fingers raw with her sewing to keep food on the table. Meanwhile, his father collected those insurance checks month after month.
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