Entering
my local CostCo recently, a family of four was going in ahead of me. There was
nothing unusual about them, except that once we were inside the store, I
happened to cross paths with them rather a lot – and so was able to observe
their CostCo experience close at hand.
As
they get inside, the body language changes noticeably. The woman becomes alert
and business-like, the man’s shoulders slump in resignation, and the children’s
heads turn up in wonderment at the scale of the place. I’ll call the parents
Mary and Bob, and the children Billy and Lizzie.
Mary
strides off in the direction of the food section. Bob wanders from aisle to
aisle, resignation turning to sheer dejection – CostCo is clearly not his
thing. He shows a flicker of interest in the laptops, prods at some Calvin
Klein boxer shorts and a 7-pack of socks, but then just meanders on hopelessly.
Lizzie
finds a demonstration table, where a young man is showing off a high-tech
blender that apparently “all the restaurants use”. Lizzie, who looks about 5, is
transfixed by the buzzing and whirring of the blender. It could be hers TODAY
for just $349.99, but her pink Barbie wallet stays firmly in her hand.
Billy
(8 or so) passes a reflective time in the books section, leafing through a
Guinness Book of Records. But then he has a change of mood when he spots a
human-sized teddy bear. He finds his father and fervently begs to have the
bear. Bob even seems to consider this ridiculous request, like a man who will
try anything if it will get him home sooner.
Sense
returns in the form of Mary – pushing a cart containing a mountain of food. You
can see the work she has put in, balancing her children’s appetites and the
capacity of her freezer against CostCo’s bulk quantities. And a little later it
is time for them to go – Lizzie emerges from her reverie about the blender,
Billy has forgotten about the teddy bear, and Bob rushes out into the sunlight,
a boy again.
For
my part, I enjoyed my CostCo experience – emerging with huge packs of kitchen
towel, toilet roll and other non-perishable items. The vastness of CostCo pack
sizes means that I have enough supplies to see me through until about 2015 – so
I have a wait until my next visit unfortunately. I can almost hear Bob thinking “If only…”.
