Comment by aorloff

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)