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Costco sells basically everything you ever need in addition to plenty of stuff you never knew you needed until you stumbled upon it in one of its stores—including the gold bars that have managed to become a very hot item since the retailer started peddling them last year.
You’re not going to come across a pallet overflowing with gold ingots tucked next to Kirkland Brand toilet paper and oversized bottles of Frank’s Red Hot while making your way through the aisles of Costco, but the company has been selling them online in 2023 and has had a bit of trouble keeping them in stock thanks to the demand.
Just how popular are they? Well, in November, (now former) Costco CFO Richard Galanti revealed the company had sold $100 million worth of gold bars during its first fiscal quarter of the current year, although that accounted for a pretty small percentage of the $56.72 billion in sales it was able to generate in that three-month span.
However, Costco might just be getting started.
According to CNBC, analysts at Wells Fargo recently took a closer look at recent trends and determined Costco is now moving between $100 million and $200 million worth of gold bars each month, citing the company’s “aggressive pricing and high level of customer trust” as key factors for making them a new hub for the precious metal.
Gold has historically been one of the more reliable investments you can make, and prices have been steadily rising since dipping down near the $1,000-per-ounce mark in 2016. As of this writing, the going rate is around $2,360 an ounce, which marks close to a 20% increase since Costco began selling the bars last August.
I’m personally a bit skeptical that Costco is really moving $200 million worth of gold bars on a monthly basis when you consider that would represent a 500% increase from the end of last year, but I’m also not an analyst at Wells Fargo, so I’ll let you decide who you want to put your faith in.