The warehouse retail giant in its 2006 fiscal year, which just ended, sold more than 1.5 million TVs and $300 million worth of digital cameras on end-cap displays, said CEO Jim Sinegal. It also filled 26.3 million prescriptions, sold 2 million pairs of glasses, printed more than a billion photos and served up 63 million hot dog and soda combinations. The combo sells for $1.50, which has been the same price for 18 years.
“Forty-seven million people have Costco membership cards …
… It also sold $805 million worth of wine, a figure that included $390 million of fine wines.
“We are the largest wine merchant in the country,” Sinegal said.
Overall revenue for the chain for the first 52 weeks of fiscal 2006 (which ended Sept. 3) came to $57.8 billion, although the company cut the earnings forecast for the entire year. The average sales per store come to more than $125 million a year. The chain now has 487 stores and an online operation that accounted for $880 million in revenue the last fiscal year. …
The retailer, which is now fifth in the U.S. and seventh worldwide, in some ways thrives on surprise. In the public mind, the chain is associated with blue-collar or middle-class shoppers. In reality, the average Costco shopper in the U.S. has an average annual income of $72,000, higher than the $59,600 average for the nation as a whole. Over 50 percent of the women and men in the top 10 percent income bracket shop at the chain.
NewMexiKen just goes to Costco for the hot dog and soda.
Ahhh, come on man . . . it’s all about the $1.35 berry smoothie! That’s well worth a visit to the “hundred-dollar club.”