Actually, things were a bit different here.Howedar wrote:*grumbles about no edit*
To elaborate, both stores have been around long enough that the kids of the original shoppers are themselves shopping. Kids that grew up going to Costco will probably keep going there, even if they're dirt-poor college students (I fit in this category). Kids who grew up going to Sam's Club will probably keep going there, even if they end up financially more successful.
The Sam's Club in our area started off as PMW (Pace Membership Warehouse). It was basically like Costco in many ways; while there was one Costco further out in the Valley, we had never bothered going there.
Our neighbor, and my parents' friend, had a membership to Price Club (which was later bought by Costco). Of the two stores, both often carried the same products for the same prices. They'd have different selections of course, but the quality of shopping in each store was about the same.
Now, enter the mid 1990s. Walmart bought out PMW, and Costco bought out Price Club. The quality of service and goods at PMW, now Sam's Club, started to decline. They began stocking cheaper goods for the same price, and I noticed their stocking wasn't the best. On the contrary, the quality of goods at Price Club (now Costco) began to increase, along with store service. Prices stayed competitive.
So guess which one we stayed with? Costco. Guess which one we terminated? Sam's Club.
