Costco Wholesale Corp. engages in the provision of operation of membership warehouses through wholly owned subsidiaries. The company is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington and currently employs 333,000 full-time employees. The firm buys the majority of its merchandise directly from suppliers and route it to cross-docking consolidation points (depots) or directly to its warehouses. The company operates 891 warehouses, including 614 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 108 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 35 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 19 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. The company also operates e-commerce sites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. The firm provides wide selection of merchandise, plus the convenience of specialty departments and exclusive member services.