Image via Crain's
People love to complain about the parking fees at Costco in the East River Plaza, where leaving your car for two hours costs $4.70. But the fee isn't Costco's decision. “We get a lot of grief for the parking lot because it costs $4. It is not our parking lot, by the way,” a store spokesperson told analysts today. In the same phone call, Costco officials said that the store gets good neighborhood traffic during the day, but that they've found New Yorkers just don't want to hop in the car after work to pick up bulk necessities.
If the obviousness of that statement makes steam come out your ears, then you'll enjoy this response from the Wall Street Journal's Marketbeat blog:
Not to be too snarky, but as we're sure Costco is aware, New Yorkers don't tend to travel around in cars. Instead we opt for an elaborate system of subterranean railroads that convey us hither and yon about the city. In these trains, we are often crammed cheek-by-jowl with our fellow travelers, with little room for the pallet-loads of cashews and toilet paper that suburbanites are at liberty to load up on.All good points, but come now: How could Costco possibly have known before it opened that New Yorkers don't drive?
· Now Open: Free Food, Expensive Parking at Costco [Racked NY]
· Rants [Racked NY]
· The Number at Noon: $4.70 [WSJ]"
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