Why Costco Had To Close Its First Chinese Store Early On Day One? — Dawn Geske

Assignment. Pick out the propaganda.

International Business Times
Why Costco Had To Close Its First Chinese Store Early On Day One?
Dawn Geske

Watch Costco Chaos at Its China Debut — Johanna Ramsey

Costco Wholesale Corp.’s first outlet in China opened on Tuesday and was soon overrun with customers willing to fight over discounted products and wait hours to pay for their purchases.

The American retail giant had to suspend operations in its Shanghai store in the afternoon citing “heavy traffic and customer flows”, according to a text message sent by the company to consumers holding its membership card. The message was shared on Weibo, China’s micro-blogging website.

The frenzy at Costco’s store comes at a time when the U.S. and China are locked in a tit-for-tat tariff war that shows no signs of abating and is making American firms wary of investing in the largest Asian economy.…

China's consumer society in training. Sounds like Filene's basement in the good old days.

I would be a shame if American business got shut out of this just as the Chinese domestic economy is set for growth as China shifts from export-led to domestic-led.

Fortune
Watch Costco Chaos at Its China Debut

Johanna Ramsey

Shannon Pettypiece — Costco Profit Drops as Demand Wanes From Higher-Income Shoppers

Costco Wholesale Corp. posted second-quarter earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates as higher-income shoppers show signs of curtailing spending.….

“The abrupt and sharp deceleration in comp sales is of deep concern broadly and is likely a bad omen for staples retail generally,” said Scott Mushkin, an analyst with Wolfe Research, in a note to clients earlier this month after Costco said its January sales came in below expectations.

Bloomberg

Costco Profit Drops as Demand Wanes From Higher-Income Shoppers
Shannon Pettypiece

Kevin Short — 11 Reasons To Love Costco That Have Nothing To Do With Shopping

What the headline doesn't mention is that these are significant economic reasons as well as social. Costco is not being uneconomical in being a responsible employer.

Huffington Post
11 Reasons To Love Costco That Have Nothing To Do With Shopping
Kevin Short

Huffington Post — Costco's Profit Soars To $537 Million Just Days After CEO Endorses Minimum Wage Increase

Less than a week after Costco CEO Craig Jelinek spoke out in favor of raising the minimum wage, the big-box retailer’s earnings showed that paying workers a living wage doesn’t always hurt business.

Costco reported a profit of $537 million last quarter, up from $394 million during the same period last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The healthy earnings report comes just six days after Jelinik urged lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

“At Costco, we know that paying employees good wages makes good sense for business,” Jelinik said in a statement last week. “Instead of minimizing wages, we know it's a lot more profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivity, commitment and loyalty. We support efforts to increase the federal minimum wage.”

Costco is known for paying its workers wages that are generally above average for the retail industry. An average Costco worker made about $45,000 in 2011, according to Fortune. That’s compared to an average of about $17,486 per year for a worker at comparable Walmart-owned Sam’s Club.

The Huffington Post
Costco's Profit Soars To $537 Million Just Days After CEO Endorses Minimum Wage Increase

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Costco member.

Costco Offers Mortgages

Costco wants to be your one-stop shop for everything you need in life, from groceries and cell phones to diamond rings and mortgages.

That's right: Costco wants to help you buy a home.In partnership with First Choice Bank and 10 other lenders, Costco is now offering mortgages, CNN Money reports.

After issuing more than 10,000 mortgages over the past year while testing the program, Costco now plans to market the mortgages more aggressively to its 66 million members, according to CNN Money....

Lauren Kutschka, Costco's manager of financial services, told CNN Moneythat Costco is also looking into offering auto and student loans. 

Read it at The Huffington Post
Costco Offers Mortgages To Homebuyers
by Bonnie Kavoussi