Quote:
Originally Posted by Sly
I always laugh when people say "I would never pay $35 to go into a store!"
Great, stay out of Sam's Club!
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Well, Costco makes their case by offering enough value to warrant a membership fee. If there's another retailer who can make enough similar arguments, we'd be all ears. The idea of a shoe store or a clothing store charging seems odd, but not so different as you say from Costco.
For example if a large international clothing store offered much more than "free" stores do, and people could see themselves doing a majority of their clothes shopping there, maybe people would pay.
I paid $110 for an executive costco membership the other day, and I already had access to Costco. My wife's family in Mexico pays for her membership. However it meant she always had to be with me in the store, which was inconvenient and annoying. Also they give me 2-3% cash back on all purchases, and they said if I don't make back the membership fee in cash back over the year, they top it up to make sure I'm not out of pocket on the membership fee.
Make the case. Just by saying "we're going to charge" isn't the right way to go about it. It needs to be value added service that makes the membership fee justifiable.
Just by buying my gas at Costco I save about $7/tank on gas. It's a no-brainer to shop there.