Kirkland uber alles
July 29, 2024 2:37 PM Subscribe
"I was hesitant to join the crowds of U.S. Americans descending on the Caribbean, but Ramona maintained that Paradisus was the best option for my needs: parents who never vacation, mostly shop at Costco, and harbor a fundamental dislike of restaurants and an extremely low tolerance for what they determine is not worth their money." (Simon Wu for The Paris Review)
This may be the new travel article for the ages.
More reading on Costco:
Lessons from Costco on sustainable growth (Harvard Business Review)
How Costco's obsession with culture drove success (MIT Management)
Costco's supply chain efficiency (Canadian Grocer)
"We're disappointed in ourselves" - when Costco unionized in Norfolk, VA (Human Resources Director)
Costco and fast fashion - not as ethical as you think? (Fast Company)
The Costco chicken lawsuit (Business Insider)
More reading on Costco:
Lessons from Costco on sustainable growth (Harvard Business Review)
How Costco's obsession with culture drove success (MIT Management)
Costco's supply chain efficiency (Canadian Grocer)
"We're disappointed in ourselves" - when Costco unionized in Norfolk, VA (Human Resources Director)
Costco and fast fashion - not as ethical as you think? (Fast Company)
The Costco chicken lawsuit (Business Insider)
this is amazing
You wander the halls fearful that Kirkland and his ominous signature might return at any time to take back his plunder.
posted by lalochezia at 3:08 PM on July 29 [2 favorites]
You wander the halls fearful that Kirkland and his ominous signature might return at any time to take back his plunder.
posted by lalochezia at 3:08 PM on July 29 [2 favorites]
If Costco trips had been A Thing when I was a kid (and if my parents would have been able to swing it), I can totally see us doing this.
posted by Kitteh at 3:12 PM on July 29
posted by Kitteh at 3:12 PM on July 29
and suddenly I am not embarrassed to be at the Paradisus but embarrassed at the highbrow distance that I had tried to graft on to my time at this middlebrow vacation. Ironic consumption is no different from earnest consumption; I am here now, and I am critical and I am also happy, and I breathe in this nice eucalyptus-scented sauna air together with her.That's generally how I felt about DisneyWorld.
posted by mazola at 3:20 PM on July 29 [7 favorites]
This sounds like it'd be a Godsend for some people, and absolutely hell on earth for me.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:22 PM on July 29 [6 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:22 PM on July 29 [6 favorites]
Costco is a fascinating business. Their founding philosophy used to be "we sell everything at cost and only make money on the upfront membership fee." They literally stuck to that until 2017. Now their annual profit is creeping up to about 130 percent of the membership fee revenue, but it was still an impressive run. They own chickens farms because they were buying too many rotisserie chickens for any supplier to handle their volume and they thought the suppliers were slacking on cost-cutting measures and Costco could do it better. They also chartered their own container ships during the pandemic, but shipping prices went down and they took a bath on that deal.
They just fought off an attempt from reactionary anti-enviromental activists to undo the supply chain green house gas resolution their shareholders passed in 2022. Although they did resist the initial resolution. The company philosophy is deeply distrustful of ANY outside influence: lenders, suppliers, popular brands, labor unions, media, American MBA culture, or anything else that could leverage them out of providing quality stuff and a noticeably cheaper price.
I should note, though, that their founder was more or less fine with unions because he said that, since he always treated and paid workers well above market, the unions wouldn't make any difference anyway.
posted by Hume at 3:26 PM on July 29 [17 favorites]
They just fought off an attempt from reactionary anti-enviromental activists to undo the supply chain green house gas resolution their shareholders passed in 2022. Although they did resist the initial resolution. The company philosophy is deeply distrustful of ANY outside influence: lenders, suppliers, popular brands, labor unions, media, American MBA culture, or anything else that could leverage them out of providing quality stuff and a noticeably cheaper price.
I should note, though, that their founder was more or less fine with unions because he said that, since he always treated and paid workers well above market, the unions wouldn't make any difference anyway.
posted by Hume at 3:26 PM on July 29 [17 favorites]
Paradisus is a brand run by Spanish hotel chain Melia. I've not been to the Cancun Paradisus, but have been a couple times to the Paradisus Playa del Carmen an hour or so down the coast, and it's very nice. It's an all-inclusive resort, meaning your meals are included at any of the several restaurants on the site - which are good if not quite amazing.
This is a great choice for parents of a little girl, as everything we need is right there and we don't have to rent a car or pay for cabs and roam around Mexico with our so-so Spanish trying to find good places to eat or recreate and avoid tourist traps and what not. They have a water park, a kids place where we can drop the child off for some of our own time, and she'll actually be happy when we come back. It's been a great experience, and we'll probably go back.
Granted, we did not book our trips through Costco travel. We eventually fell for one of those sales spiels and bought a massively overcomplicated options plan that lets us go to Melia properties anywhere. So we may well try the Cancun one (it looks great on the web site), as well as Marbella, Spain, which I'm up for because it's halfway between Malaga and Gibraltar, both of which are on my list. Or, if I can talk my wife into it, one of their resorts in the Canary Islands. (I don't know, she doesn't like islands or something.)
At any rate, it works for us, now that we are way past being so smugly cool as the author. Actually, I'm pretty sure I never was.
posted by Naberius at 3:26 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]
This is a great choice for parents of a little girl, as everything we need is right there and we don't have to rent a car or pay for cabs and roam around Mexico with our so-so Spanish trying to find good places to eat or recreate and avoid tourist traps and what not. They have a water park, a kids place where we can drop the child off for some of our own time, and she'll actually be happy when we come back. It's been a great experience, and we'll probably go back.
Granted, we did not book our trips through Costco travel. We eventually fell for one of those sales spiels and bought a massively overcomplicated options plan that lets us go to Melia properties anywhere. So we may well try the Cancun one (it looks great on the web site), as well as Marbella, Spain, which I'm up for because it's halfway between Malaga and Gibraltar, both of which are on my list. Or, if I can talk my wife into it, one of their resorts in the Canary Islands. (I don't know, she doesn't like islands or something.)
At any rate, it works for us, now that we are way past being so smugly cool as the author. Actually, I'm pretty sure I never was.
posted by Naberius at 3:26 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]
Look, I'm just saying that if I bought an all-inclusive Costco vacation, I would want meals served one tiny disposable muffin cup bite at a time, a slice of sausage, half a wonton, and so forth, served from small tables with adjoining microwave or hotplate by an older person wearing a white paper hat. And inexplicably, some of those tables will be offering non-edibles like toilet paper samples.
posted by straw at 3:29 PM on July 29 [23 favorites]
posted by straw at 3:29 PM on July 29 [23 favorites]
Sounds like the right place to link the story of how the owner told the COO he'd kill him if he raised the price of the hot dog and soda combo!
posted by TwoWordReview at 3:38 PM on July 29 [6 favorites]
posted by TwoWordReview at 3:38 PM on July 29 [6 favorites]
I think Costco should build their own resort and only serve foods there that can be purchased at a Costco somewhere in the world. I'm talking big muffins. Sheet cake. Turkey pinwheels. Salmon Milano. 90 different flavors of flavored yogurt at the breakfast buffet. They could sell those Kirkland Signature sweatshirts at the resort store. I feel like this could actually be such a huge cash cow for them
posted by potrzebie at 3:48 PM on July 29 [14 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 3:48 PM on July 29 [14 favorites]
foods there that can be purchased at a Costco somewhere in the world
Osetra Caviar--Kirkland branded--seen at a Costco in suburban Minneapolis a couple of years ago. The wacky "finds" like this seem to pop up more in the holiday season, around December. It was in a blister pak, along with the little mother-of-pearl serving spoon, like you were buying a stapler or something.
posted by gimonca at 3:56 PM on July 29 [4 favorites]
Osetra Caviar--Kirkland branded--seen at a Costco in suburban Minneapolis a couple of years ago. The wacky "finds" like this seem to pop up more in the holiday season, around December. It was in a blister pak, along with the little mother-of-pearl serving spoon, like you were buying a stapler or something.
posted by gimonca at 3:56 PM on July 29 [4 favorites]
There is, for example, Hadar (Adults Only), the main cafeteria
Is it filled with a cacophony of soft whispers and slurping noises?
posted by offog at 3:58 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]
Is it filled with a cacophony of soft whispers and slurping noises?
posted by offog at 3:58 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]
Kirkland Signature Apartments
Costco wants to build a new store in Los Angeles' Baldwin Village neighborhood. The problem with that is the same problem with building anything in California: years' worth of process and public hearings, as well as the threat of after-the-fact lawsuits. Fortunately for Costco, YIMBYs in California have been chipping away at all this and there are now ways to bypass the legacy review process...posted by BungaDunga at 4:07 PM on July 29 [2 favorites]
In the case of Costco, building ~400,000 square feet of housing to qualify for the alternative track was easier than dealing with the legacy process...
AB2011 — the specific legislation Costco is invoking — has a prevailing wage requirement. This sets a minimum for construction worker pay and ensures union labor remains cost-competitive... The rub here is that, for AB2011, this requirement only applies to on-site labor. Work done off-site can be paid at whatever rates the developer can negotiate. Costco seems to be planning to buy prefab modular units that are built at a factory somewhere else.
foods there that can be purchased at a Costco somewhere in the world
When I was living in Japan there was a Costco in Amagasaki (a city between Osaka and Kobe) that I'd go to a couple of times a year to stock up on stuff. I don't remember it being all that different from Costco here in Canada which was fine because I was looking for Western goods at better prices than what the import stores had. More recently I visited a Costco in Yawata (a city between Osaka and Kyoto) and they had wagyu beef there which was pretty neat to see.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:15 PM on July 29
When I was living in Japan there was a Costco in Amagasaki (a city between Osaka and Kobe) that I'd go to a couple of times a year to stock up on stuff. I don't remember it being all that different from Costco here in Canada which was fine because I was looking for Western goods at better prices than what the import stores had. More recently I visited a Costco in Yawata (a city between Osaka and Kyoto) and they had wagyu beef there which was pretty neat to see.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:15 PM on July 29
An approved upcoming Costco location in South Los Angeles (the Baldwin Village/Crenshaw area specifically) is slated to open in the coming years, and it combines the company’s more-is-more brand with a novel new approach to residential construction. [...] All told, the build would encompass not only the Costco store (and necessary parking) but a whopping 800 residential units, including 184 set aside specifically for low-income tenants. (SFGate, June 26, 2024)
According to SFGATE, the big-box retailer is working with privately-owned developer Thrive Living and architecture firm AO to build this project on a five-acre lot that was previously the site of a hospital. The multi-use structure will feature necessary parking for residents and Costco shoppers alike, as well as a fitness area, a community space, multiple courtyards, a rooftop pool, landscaped paths, and urban gardens. (House Beautiful, June 2024)
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:26 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]
According to SFGATE, the big-box retailer is working with privately-owned developer Thrive Living and architecture firm AO to build this project on a five-acre lot that was previously the site of a hospital. The multi-use structure will feature necessary parking for residents and Costco shoppers alike, as well as a fitness area, a community space, multiple courtyards, a rooftop pool, landscaped paths, and urban gardens. (House Beautiful, June 2024)
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:26 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]
You'll not find me throwing shade at Costco; I have drunk the Kirkland Signature Kool-Aid and am content.
posted by Kitteh at 4:40 PM on July 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 4:40 PM on July 29 [2 favorites]
This reminds me of travel agents. There were so many years ago. I haven't seen one in ages. They always did right by me.
posted by Czjewel at 4:47 PM on July 29 [5 favorites]
posted by Czjewel at 4:47 PM on July 29 [5 favorites]
I love the Paris Review. Thank you for this!
posted by OrangeDisk at 5:37 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]
posted by OrangeDisk at 5:37 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]
Wow... The only way I can map my understanding to what I know is that this sounds like a low-key and budget form of Club Med.... And even that is a partial analogy.
posted by cendawanita at 5:40 PM on July 29
posted by cendawanita at 5:40 PM on July 29
great collection of articles! the fast fashion link brought a second look at Eddie Bauer [femignarly]
posted by HearHere at 6:09 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]
posted by HearHere at 6:09 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]
Welcome to Costco. I love you.
posted by Ickster at 7:09 PM on July 29 [4 favorites]
posted by Ickster at 7:09 PM on July 29 [4 favorites]
This reads like a George Saunders story, except the resort isn't surrounded by a post-apocalyptic hell-scape and nobody dies.
→
Absolutely. From the guy who got me flights ("Worldwide cheapest flights ... allegedly!" ran his ad in Private Eye) to the slightly scary Secret Service-like agents used by power utilities (with their special "we will get you out of there" hotline, which managed to get me out of Houston, TX when it was threatened with snow and almost no-one was flying), travel agents were great.
posted by scruss at 7:18 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]
→
travel agents. … They always did right by me.
Absolutely. From the guy who got me flights ("Worldwide cheapest flights ... allegedly!" ran his ad in Private Eye) to the slightly scary Secret Service-like agents used by power utilities (with their special "we will get you out of there" hotline, which managed to get me out of Houston, TX when it was threatened with snow and almost no-one was flying), travel agents were great.
posted by scruss at 7:18 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]
I am just checking in for this conversation
posted by CostcoCultist at 8:41 PM on July 29 [6 favorites]
posted by CostcoCultist at 8:41 PM on July 29 [6 favorites]
One of my few regrets only recent trip to Japan was that I didn’t make it to the Costco located next to Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium in Hiroshima. My brother says it’s both very Costco and very Japanese at the same time.
I’ve used Costco Travel to buy Disney World tickets before and even looked at a few resorts in the Caribbean but never went through with it. The idea of going to another country so you can go to one spot and eat food that tastes like what you’d get at any random hotel in the states is very weird to me.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:08 PM on July 29
I’ve used Costco Travel to buy Disney World tickets before and even looked at a few resorts in the Caribbean but never went through with it. The idea of going to another country so you can go to one spot and eat food that tastes like what you’d get at any random hotel in the states is very weird to me.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:08 PM on July 29
Who among us has not daydreamed of [catastrophic event] forcing us to take shelter in a Costco with a ragged band of survivors of [catastrophic event]? That's the all-inclusive Costco resort vacation I want, preferably at a time when the seasonal aisles have camping supplies or mattresses. I don't know how it goes from there. Maybe it's a Lord of the Flies thing with a strict hierarchy ruled by the employees who happened to be in the store, followed by the Executive membership holders. Maybe we all work together to fend off plague zombies or ghost pirates or shoggoths, or maybe we split into factions and have a battle over control of the food court. It'll be great.
On a different note, if future archaeologists sift through my midden, they might reasonably conclude Costco was my religion. Maybe it is.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:54 PM on July 29
On a different note, if future archaeologists sift through my midden, they might reasonably conclude Costco was my religion. Maybe it is.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:54 PM on July 29
« Older Pesticides as bad as smoking for some cancers | White Dudes for Harris Newer »
posted by esoteric things at 3:07 PM on July 29 [2 favorites]