Gold has turned into money for Costco, where yellow metal sales begun last year have turned into a cash cow for the big-box retailer.
In fact, sales are so brisk that analysts at Wells Fargo expect revenue “may now be running at” $100 million to $200 million a month, a rapid acceleration since bullion hit the warehouse club late in the summer of 2023.
If Kelly’s assessment is correct, that would represent quite a move for a product that only debuted last August and generated about $100 million in sales in Costco’s fiscal first quarter that ended in late November 2023.
Costco is selling 1-ounce bars made of nearly pure 24-karat gold. While the price is not disclosed online to nonmembers, it’s estimated that the product generally sells for about 2% above the spot price, which as of Tuesday morning was around $2,357 an ounce. That would put the price at Costco just more than $2,400.
Gold has been on a tear this year, with spot prices rising more than 13% in 2024, pushed higher by a persistent bout of inflation that started in 2022 and investor fear over the state of the deteriorating U.S. fiscal situation. The government is on pace for a $2 trillion deficit this year, adding to a total debt load that has surpassed $34.6 trillion.
