For those living in the area, one way to fight inflation is to make a Costco run.
The warehouse store chain has been in northern Delaware since the late 1990s, with a store near Christiana Mall.
Prices have gone up over the years, but the club has a few exceptions to that rule.
A large well-seasoned roasted chicken still costs $4.99, even with the supply chain issues that continued during the past couple of years.
At its food court, a 16-inch pizza with pepperoni runs about $10. By contrast, a similar pie from the Delaware-based Grotto Pizza chain will set you back about $20. The Costco pizza comes so loaded that many remove some of the cheese on an uncooked version. Hot dogs run a paltry $1.50.
How does Costco pull it off?
In the case of the roasted chicken, the company a few years back recruited farmers and built a processing plant in Nebraska as a way to control the process and costs.
Costco could easily raise the price of the above items, but cheap hotdogs and chicken are part of the company’s DNA, with Wall Street from time to time demanding that the company boost those prices to improve its margins.
Costco does not do this out of the goodness of its heart.
Instead, it is part of a strategy to retain and add members, who pay $60 a year. That price does go up every five years or so.
Sales gains have been strong at Costco and rival BJ’s, which has four locations in Delaware, as consumers look for lower gas prices and other deals.
As of Monday, Costco was selling gas at $4.26 a gallon, and there was a line at the pumps. On Tuesday, the price dropped to $4.20. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
