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jsbisviewtifulyesterday at 5:34 PM4 repliesview on HN

Costco is a store... where coffee, usually gas and most food + home goods are reliable in quality and priced well comparatively. Comparing the price of salmon fillets at Costco to Whole Foods or elsewhere is eye-opening. Would I buy clothes or furniture from Costco? No - because both are bland. The end.

If the writer wants to make it anything more than that... They are a bit too obsessed with self-image vs wasting money and, dare I say, a loser for judging others over something as classist as personal finances. Feels like the write-up is just a statement piece meant to either rattle people for engagement or make the writer feel more hip than they actually are.


Replies

skeeter2020yesterday at 6:24 PM

>> Would I buy clothes or furniture from Costco?

Careful - even Gen-Z is looking at Kirkland clothing for certain pieces, and some furniture (like the Murphy bed I bought from them) is better when it's bland and greige

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triceratopsyesterday at 6:21 PM

> Would I buy clothes or furniture from Costco? No - because both are bland. The end.

But they're like the gas and food at Costco - reliable in quality and comparatively well-priced. I'd buy clothes from other places if I knew where they were. Online shopping is a crapshoot and I mean that (almost) literally: they shoot crap into your mailbox. Department stores and clothes stores at the mall are overpriced for average quality. Ditto for IRL furniture stores.

nathanasmithtoday at 12:52 AM

> Would I buy clothes [...] from Costco?

Yes. Happily.

aorloffyesterday at 8:59 PM

I think you might be missing a subtle point about Costco, and how it fits into the social order.

Costco pledges (I have no idea if its true) that they offer goods at cost, no markup, and their profits (net income ? this is where it gets fuzzy) are simply the membership fees. In fact, I think there's a lawsuit from a Costco purchaser to get back some tariffs if Costco gets refunded tariffs.

So the idea is premium groceries (and homegoods, and tires, and pharma, etc) with zero retail markup.

Its a compelling idea, and it works because it actually seems to work. What you write is "priced well comparatively" is (according to the legend) the wholesale pricing at the quantities offered (again, I'm not sure about spoilage and some of the other details)