You can find a lot of things at wholesale retailers like Costco. Reasonably priced hotdogs, giant containers of cashews, inflatable pools, liters of vodka and, apparently, love.
As the popularity of Starbucks coffee shops as a “third space” for people to meet has faded in recent years and as people disappear more and more into internet-based socializing, there remains a hunger for in-person connection. Today, people are satiating that hunger as they peruse bulk items, according to RJ Hottovy, head of analytical research at foot traffic analysis firm Placer.ai.
“We started to notice with our data that it’s become that third place, that place away from home and work where people can congregate and meet,” Hottovy told Rob Hart on WBBM Newsradio’s Noon Business Hour this week, referring to Costco. “It may not be the typical place that you think of on that, but all those things rolled together really has made it an inviting place for a lot of consumers to shop and it’s showing up in the data.”
Costco – a membership-based wholesale retailer with more than 800 locations worldwide – does have some things going for it as a meet-cute destination. There are lots of wide aisles to get lost in, there’s a food court with items that won’t break the bank that’s open to the public, and there’s usually at least one display of outdoor furniture or recliners just begging for a potential couple to hang out and chat.
If things go really well, they can even buy engagement rings there!
While Costco is one of the more well-known wholesalers (TikTok scrollers will know it from those A.J. and Big Justice videos). However, Hottovy said others like Sam’s Club are also becoming social hubs.
“It really is the overall category,” he told Hart. “And what’s interesting, looking at our data, we see a few things. We see that people are spending a lot more time there than any other channel. It really reinforces this idea of a third place. We’re starting to see, based on trade areas, it’s younger consumers, too, it’s kind of the early young families that are driving a lot of the visits and the visit frequency in a lot of cases through these chains.”
Hart was a bit skeptical of the chances of romance blooming amid the concrete and industrial shelving.
“I can’t see chatting it… up with friends or having a catch-up session while somebody is impatiently standing behind me looking for access to the industrial-sized barrel of garlic powder,” he said.
Hottovy said that Hart is right, but mostly about the weekend crowds. Week nights are apparently when the wholesale rom-com magic might be found.
“I think that we’re starting to see that there’s at least freedom to kind of make it more of your own visit and that treasure-hunt feeling, and being able to kind of surprise yourself with what might be there,” he explained.
