Everyone here probably knows that Costco is the largest purchaser in the
world of wine.

In the USA they have regional buying offices. In the southeast region it is
in Atlanta and the buyer does a great job.

In my case I have a working relationship with Costco (not for wine) and I
can tell you virtually all buying decisions on wine are done at their HQ and
then the regional buyer has some latitude. Little discretion at store
level.

They have a demographic profile called traits for each store and they know
what fits based upon that. It is a very sophisticated buying technique.
They know which stores get expanded departments for hispanic, asian etc. I
think they run an incredible operation.

It really would be hard for retailers to compete in price as they offer a
limited selection of wines that are perceived fast sellers. Club stores
make their real money on memberships. They do not charge much for markups.



"miles" > wrote in message
...
> Dee Dee wrote:
>
>> And, back on topic, perhaps Costco doesn't sell California wines or
>> any wines in your country. In our state (commonwealth), Virginia,
>> they sell wine, but in the other states we travel through to visit
>> family, none carry wine.
>
> Thats interesting. Every Costco I've been to in Arizona, California or
> Nevada has had a good selection of wines.