Sol Price, a retail magnate who three decades ago altered both the American landscape and the American way of shopping by founding Price Club, the first nationwide members-only discount warehouse, died on Monday at his home in La Jolla, Calif. He was 93.

Mr. Price died of natural causes, his son Robert said.

With Robert, Mr. Price started the first Price Club in 1976 in a cavernous former airplane parts factory in an unfashionable part of San Diego. The business, which offered consumer goods as varied as tires, books and household appliances at extremely low prices, proved to be the leading edge in the multibillion-dollar influx of discount big-box stores, among them Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sam’s Club.

By 1990, members-only retail clubs had become the fastest-growing sector of retailing, The Associated Press reported.

Price Club merged with Costco in 1993. Afterward, Sol and Robert Price founded PriceSmart, which operates more than two dozen membership warehouse clubs in the Caribbean and Central America.