Costco as Savior

It appears that there is a new "trend" in saving dying shopping malls. While big box retailers like Mervyn's and Macy's are folding their tends and moving on, Costco is taking their place. There are 396 such warehouse clubs in the U.S. Costco has made the move to take over locations that have not been profitable for other stores, even in enclosed malls.

Costco members (who pay for an annual membership fee of between $50 and $100) have median household incomes of $62,222 compared with the national average of $46,243. There is some possiblity that a similar trend will catch on with Wal-Mart Stores (and their Sam's Club model which is similar to Costco) but it appears this has not happened yet.

So, if you want to consider new locations for practice, you might want to look up to see if a new Costco is coming to town.