The average store size in the US is the smallest it's been in at least 17 years

"We’ve got a costco and an Aldi in the same parking lot."

South San Francisco has a Trader Joe's right behind a Costco parking lot: https://goo.gl/maps/ZakBe7FENqr1ybRm9

Not quite as good as an Aldi, but close.

What if you need more cultural foods? Costco and Aldi only have very generic foods. Costco has the odd frozen food and snacks from other cultures, but otherwise it's just a lot of run-off-the-mill type food.

I don’t shop there myself but a couple of visits tagging along with a shopper I was impressed with their bread section - head and shoulders above the typical supermarket bread. But looks like you bake your own bread (which is awesome).

Try and stop me. I LOVE Costco.

Basically, when I buy something at a regular store, I'm shocked at the recent inflation.

But at Costco, most things have barely budged at all in the past few years. And that's starting at a lower base as well - at the moment it's simply nuts how much cheaper things are there.

In fact, if you look at their financial statements, their entire profit equals their membership fee income - this means you're buying things at cost price on average. And Costco is known to be brutal to their suppliers, using their market position to force lower prices and larger pack sizes onto the manufacturers.

They don't sell everything though - there are some items you have to buy on Amazon or a regular grocery store. But almost (not entirely) every time that Costco sells something, it's the best deal you can get.

Another downside is you have to buy a LOT of what you're buying. So it only makes sense if you're planning ahead somewhat, and if you have room in your fridge/freezer/garage.

EDIT: actually the main drawback is the hugeness and remoteness of the store, and the immense number of other shoppers. But again, this plays into going every couple of weeks and buying ahead. These things are inherent in their model and I accept it. I actually spend less total time shopping now because I do all of it in 60-80 minutes every two weeks.

Another edit: none of this means that the quality is any lower. Somehow, they're delivering excellent meat, produce, and more at a fraction of the cost.

Maybe I should buy shares in this company. They barely have a profit margin though.

Not everything at Costco is a win price-wise, but if you do even a small amount of research you can find a number of items that are huge wins.

A pint of pure vanilla extract for $9.99. Dog treats at about half the price of pet smart or online stores. Kirkland brand Flonase is about 75% less than you can get at a pharmacy. Kirkland brand Claritin is ridiculously cheap, 365 tablets for under $20.

You very rapidly get back your yearly fee.

I’m not even sure the economics make sense. Like if I buy toilet paper, I just want to buy as much as possible and not have to worry about it. Same with other staples. Costco delivers bulk goods with excellent quality at a good price. I’m not even sure I’m saving money honestly.

One of the primary reason I love Costco is fewer SKUs.

I don’t have to decide between 20 items of same kind, say white bread. There’s usually 1 or 2 of a kind, generally of great quality. You buy it and move on.

We rely on Costco buyers to do the quality due diligence for us.

Also, even if their price is not the best for an item, I trust it’s good enough. Couple that with their return policy, most purchases become a simpler exercise.

The bulk goods tend to be cheaper at Costco than my local stores whenever I've price shopped them. Bounty Paper Towels are about 5-15% cheaper. Kirkland butter is 10-20% cheaper than my local white-label. Kirkland unsalted nuts is 30% cheaper than white-label. I'm sure not everything has that much of an effective discount. Fresh fruit is roughly the same price. It can make sense to purchase bulk nonperishable products and food items you know you'll use before they go bad.

Things are cheaper when you buy in bulk. I’m lucky to have a fridge and freezer.

Ironically the bulk store brands also tend to be higher quality. The downside is there’s less variety.

For most non-perishables it’s the most time efficient in minimizing the number of trips. Also given how often I go, ~once a month, each time I get the same sort of novelty as a Trader Joe's for they will have swapped out many items.

Costco has barely any markup on the items they sell (sometimes absolutely 0 markup). They make up for it in membership fees.

Shoes are the one thing I’ll go to a store for. It’s a real struggle to find a good fit, and there’s some manufacturing variance, even with the same model

Tesla famously.

You can. Aliexpress.com

I think Purple mattresses showed up on a shelf at Costco last week. I don’t know how many they can sell in small sealed boxes (do they explode like inflatable rafts?) without a demo unit.

Direct would be a manufacturing brand selling to an end-consumer without an intermediary.

Buying an iPhone from Apple: direct

Buying an iPhone from Amazon/Walmart/Target/BestBuy: not direct.

> Some retailers actually intentionally make the stores overwhelming and disorienting since they believe that it increases sales.

Costco being a prime example. Not sure if all of the stores are laid out the same, but the ones I've been into can generally be described as "make it through a gauntlet of novel, ever-changing stuff that attempts to lure you into impulse purchases on your way to the back of the store, where the staples you came for are located, then make your way back to the front of the store, though another orgy of consumer products, and hey, you've already said no to the fleece vest and the shrimp shu mai so you might as well treat yourself to the 3 pound jar of chocolate caramels".

This kind of behavior leads to the growth of small stores where you can get in and out quickly--Dollar General and other dollar stores in the case of Walmart.

My point of reference is Prague: small stores, but a lot more numerous than most US cities.

I seriously doubt that it's possible, unless you can get the city/state to change the building codes dramatically for the worse. Residential units need various things that commercial buildings don't, like windows (for each unit, not just at the periphery of the huge building), lots of plumbing so everyone can have a kitchen and bathroom, etc. Retrofitting buildings (to be very different than before, not just changing some fixtures and keeping the overall design intact) is generally more expensive than just demolishing and building new ones that are properly designed for that purpose. Just look at cars: even restoring an old car costs a fortune in labor costs, because it's far less efficient than building a new one on an assembly line, and that isn't changing the car design substantially. Imagine what it would cost to transform a 1950s car into one that meets all 2023 safety and emissions standards; even if you can reuse an existing engine/transmission, there's a ton of custom work needed, both mechanical and electrical.

Or just tear them down and build something new.

Main issue with office space to apartment conversions is the deep floor plan that makes access to sunlight difficult. Retofitting plumbing and isolated fireproofing probably adds more complexity. In terms of malls though, it's perhaps less of a problem to turn these into low-rise residential.

But at the end of the day, it's just land waiting for re-use. I'd be happy for these spaces to become parkland and forest. Or maybe there will be something in the future that needs a lot of land but benefits being located somewhat closer to populations?

It's rare that brick and mortar stores actually have what I'm looking for in stock (exceptions include home improvement stores). They always offer to order it for me, though, as if that's a magic power.

Repackaging it is a literal strip of tape and throwing it in a drop box that’s likely less than two miles from your house.

The phenomenon that cracks me up, tho, is retail stores serving as points of return for Amazon! Kohls is so damn thirsty for foot traffic they’ll accept returns for a direct competitor!

CVS and Autozone I kind of get it. If you need a prescription or hemorrhoid cream or a car battery you’re probably not waiting on Amazon… but when literally everything in your store is also available on Amazon?

Tick tock, business model.

I agree, but I don't know of any stores where I am able to really inspect a product. I end up wading through review after review and trying to see if people were troubleshooting the product for the use case I intended.

I don't know if there's a solution. Nearly every place online is inundated by advertisers trying to game the system, and they ooze further into the corners with each passing month.

I find it nearly impossible to find quality items in person. I have to order online to have a wide enough selection for most things to not be cheap junk. In person stores stock a bunch of items that aren't up to my expectations with the hopes that they'll sell. They end up increasing costs and lowering quality.

That's fine. Lots of folks buy the first one in store and the rest online..

Reviews can definitely vary - but your perspective is probably useful to other people seeking the kinds of reviews you do

I think anything without more data for context seems "profound."

Compare with pre-Walmart US for a huge shift in size. There were some large stores before that, but they weren't as prolific as Walmart. Or as successful in closing smaller competition.