Talk of the Region: June
From June 2005
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Costco Members Dig Deep to Order Caskets
In the knock-down business of warehouse discounters, the competitive challenge goes beyond pricing. It’s a major retail game of “can you top this?” in merchandise offered to members.
Discount giants Wal-Mart and Costco are into pricier luxury items, from top-of-the-line jewelry — a yellow diamond ring on Costco’s website goes for $180,000 — to an original Picasso drawing that recently sold at a California Costco for $39,999.
Reaching to serve all customers’ needs, Costco now offers the ultimate in layaway plans: caskets and urns that can be ordered online or through its more than 325 outlets in the United States.
The Mother model casket is price-tagged at $924.99; the Kentucky Rose is $1,499.99; the In God’s Care container sells for $924.99; and the Lady of Guadalupe is priced at $924.99. Caskets are made of 18-guage steel and come in bronze, copper or stainless steel.
If you yearn for an urn, the Pebble Stone model sells through Costco for $89.99 and the adult Ebony, a “unique trophy design made with painstaking detail,” is price-tagged at $79.99. Comes with string, cremation remains bag, and glue to permanently seal the lid.
“Sales are doing pretty well,” Jim Sinegal, president, CEO and co-founder of Costco Wholesale Club in Seattle, told Prosper. “They’re on sale in a couple of stores in Chicago, then we took them into six or seven stores in the Detroit market and we’ve recently decided to expand into the Los Angeles market.”
So far, no customer complaints and no returns.
Continued...
In the knock-down business of warehouse discounters, the competitive challenge goes beyond pricing. It’s a major retail game of “can you top this?” in merchandise offered to members.
Discount giants Wal-Mart and Costco are into pricier luxury items, from top-of-the-line jewelry — a yellow diamond ring on Costco’s website goes for $180,000 — to an original Picasso drawing that recently sold at a California Costco for $39,999.
Reaching to serve all customers’ needs, Costco now offers the ultimate in layaway plans: caskets and urns that can be ordered online or through its more than 325 outlets in the United States.
The Mother model casket is price-tagged at $924.99; the Kentucky Rose is $1,499.99; the In God’s Care container sells for $924.99; and the Lady of Guadalupe is priced at $924.99. Caskets are made of 18-guage steel and come in bronze, copper or stainless steel.
If you yearn for an urn, the Pebble Stone model sells through Costco for $89.99 and the adult Ebony, a “unique trophy design made with painstaking detail,” is price-tagged at $79.99. Comes with string, cremation remains bag, and glue to permanently seal the lid.
“Sales are doing pretty well,” Jim Sinegal, president, CEO and co-founder of Costco Wholesale Club in Seattle, told Prosper. “They’re on sale in a couple of stores in Chicago, then we took them into six or seven stores in the Detroit market and we’ve recently decided to expand into the Los Angeles market.”
So far, no customer complaints and no returns.
Continued...
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