Being a tourist and giving the same importance to a visit to a local supermarket as to a neo-gothic cathedral. A recurring trend on TikTok or Twitter (now X) refers to that adult side. The supermarket as a mirror of civilization and as a place in which or to which to hike.
Costco, the U.S. hypermarket that has already established itself in Madrid, represents well this reality that also appeals to globalization. The hackneyed and classic cliché of traveling to a place without leaving another place is represented here: going to a classic American Walmart without leaving Getafe.
The success of this hypermarket is based on a complex model. A potential buyer cannot enter in the same way as he would enter Mercadona, but is obliged to pay an annual fee of 36.3 euros (for private customers) or 30.25 euros (for companies and self-employed workers).
When customers walk through the doors, what they find are savings products in large formats -something with which Spanish shoppers may be familiar thanks to places like Makro-: one-and-a-half-kilo bags of jelly beans or five-kilo packs of snacks.
Not only that, but at Costco you can also find everything from furniture to gardening products. From optical products to tires, from furniture to hearing aids.
Costco, a fashionable hypermarket
Or its famous hot dog. In another business model that can be related to that of Ikea, Costco also offers gastronomic functionality. A recent video by food influencer Peldanyos talks about their hot dogs – which sell for €1.5 and include an open bar.
Costco has around 800 stores worldwide, but most of its hypermarkets are in North America (552 stores in the US, 101 in Canada and 39 in Mexico).
It has barely been present in Spain for ten years – it opened its first store in Seville in 2014 – to consolidate its position as one of the best-rated supermarkets in the country, according to a survey by the OCU. Costco has two stores in Madrid, which opened in 2015 and 2020 respectively and are in Las Rozas (calle Innovación, 19) and Getafe (calle de Agustín de Betancourt, 17).
In recent weeks, there has been an increase in the number of users visiting their stores and telling about it on their social networks. And at the same time, the controversy has flared up about a characteristic eminent to American products: the hypercaloric issue and the word junk food appears frequently in the comments of any of the publications on the subject.
Part of the success or the fact that it is so in vogue can be linked to the rapid expansion of the brand throughout Spain. The stores in Sestao, Zaragoza, Malaga, Valencia or Siero (Asturias) are about to become a reality.