Somebody Bought a Damn $400,000 Ring at Costco

Somebody actually purchased a $400,000 diamond ring at Costco, a level of deal-seeking thoroughness to which the rest of us can only aspire.

CNBC reported on this tidbit, plucked from a quarterly earnings report.

The warehouse retailer said during its latest quarter ended May 12 it got a sales boost thanks to a customer purchasing one of its rings for $400,000. It didn’t say which ring, exactly, but a search on Costco’s website reveals only one ring priced in the $400,000 range: A “Round Brilliant 10.03 carat VS1 Clarity, I Color Diamond Platinum Solitaire Ring.” Costco’s website shows 500 different rings for sale, many costing more than $50,000.

Let’s put aside, for a moment, the question of why anyone is buying a diamond ring for pushing half a million dollars at Costco. (I wonder if you still get cash back points if you buy that on an executive level membership?) The real question is why Costco, a place more typically associated with enormous tubs of literally everything, is selling large diamond rings. Bloomberg explained the business strategy at work, here:

Costco is known for its treasure-hunt shopping experience, including luxury handbags and expensive jewelry that members can buy online and pick up at lockers in the stores. Those shoppers often pick up additional items when they collect their orders, Galanti has said. Costco’s website lists several diamond rings that cost more than $100,000, and Prada handbags that sell for nearly $2,000.

This tracks, because even when I do walk into Costco with a specific list, I still walk out with $47 worth of cheese puffs or individually wrapped hummus snacks or bottles of lotion so large that I will never finish them in my lifetime. Without a specific list? Carnage.