Costco: An Industry

Upon the entrance of Costco one is hit with waves of merchandise. Such a general term is used after failing to find a more specific term that applies to an industry of such proportion. The merchandise is in the masses, stuffed in boxes, bags, cartons, and crates, all compact and stacked. It is a place to get lost in, to be swept up off the cruel concrete ground and tossed around among the endless load of steel pillars that bear the weight of America’s packaged goods. Concrete walls compliment its cracked floors and vast labyrinths of piping keep them erect. It is as if the vertebra of a small insect was distended large enough so that people could walk inside of it, exploring the inter-workings of the being. And to make sure that not a moment of all its glory is missed there is a large grid of florescent lighting suspended from the maze of piping. These lights take away the illusion of time; it is never night nor day in Costco as long as the lights are on, bright enough to stifle even the sun’s rays.

Available to the shopper is the standard shopping carts, but in case the need for an upgrade should arise there are also flatbed carts for maximum shopping experience. Costco does not limit itself to selling the supplies, such as toilet paper or dog food, that one would need in bulk. A single pack of gum is turned into that family value pack of fifty; a sixteen ounce bottle of shampoo turns into a liter bottle; hand chosen apples turn into an entire crate. Everything is bigger so that one would never have to worry about coming upon the day that there was not a single stick of gum left to chew.

Along with the necessities that make our world go around there are luxuries too. Five different brands of flat screen TV’s and lap top computers, printers, and phones are all just a mere isle apart. Their screens glow seductively, luring anyone who walks past to stop and gape just a moment longer. Competing with their allure is the jewelry stand right across the way; polished daily, not a single facet goes unseen thanks to the brilliant lights over head. Costco’s convenience allows anyone in a bind to pick up there engagement right and dog food all on the same store. Or, if the unfortunate should happen, one can return the ring, within a 90 day period of course, and pick up an oak coffin, one of three that are available.

Venturing deeper into Costco’s depths there is a bakery, completed with order forms for any cake for any occasion. Intimacy for a five year-old’s birthday can be faked by any cake decorator on hand, cakes no longer have to be baked at home or made with love when the only effort that needs to be expended is the effort it takes to fill out an order form. Personalizing special mile stones like birthday cakes, diamond rings, and coffins has never before been so easy. Products are generalized to fit every outlier of the public taking away anything that is unique about the occasion.

To further Costco’s horizons, a trip outside is necessary. It is not far though, in fact, one does not even need to leave its concrete limits to visit the “Garden Center”. An array of precut trees stand at attention as people walk by, hoping desperately that someone would take them home with them, away from the cage in which they reside, and let them sink their roots into the warm earth, relaxing at last. Other potted plants are arranged aesthetically around the trees, but it does not hide the fact that they are contained in plastic cups, resting on stone ground surrounded by metal fencing. Perhaps the most disconcerting thing about the Garden Center is the lack of a fragrant haze that should envelope any plant house. Instead, the air is flavorless and controlled by a generator, giant by noise but unseen to the eye. The unsettling details commonly go unnoticed; the Garden Center is at the back of Costco and is disguised by the same red sign that could just as easily read “Pharmacy” or “Optometry” as it does “Garden Center”.

Instead, the main event of Costco is the snack bar, located at the very front of the warehouse. Bright yellow lines on the floor catch customers as they leave their check out lines and guide them to the mouth of the eatery. Extra lights were installed above the menus hung on the wall, consisting more of pictures than of words, to give the food an appealing glow. Simple colors like red, blue, and yellow keep the mind in a simple state when the decision arises between a hot dog and a slice of pizza. The food sits on display. Its shines as if showing the people they are getting what the sign promised them. An ebb and flow is created after the consumer leaves the register: soda fountains are the next closest thing, and then comes the condiments and napkins, and finally they arrive at several rows of plastic tables, which are only separated by the red umbrellas that shoot up from them. Simple to the buyer, yet deviant to the creator.

After the quick, greasy meal is finished they are beckoned out the warehouse doors, back to the outside world of smaller proportions. They leave until next time when they come back hunting for more. In its magnitude Costco represents man in his way that needs turn into greed as he loses sight of the ratio of consumption to his own mass. In this century convenience and quantity trumps all. Those are the very grounds upon which Costco was erected.

-Sheridan