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Costco sold over $100 million of gold during the first quarter, the wholesale retailer reported
Costco is cashing in on the rush to buy gold as rate cut uncertainty and other market pressures drive up the price of the hot commodity.
One buyer who purchased a gold bar at the wholesaler weighed in on the craze.
“I’ve always been buying gold and silver. I’ve been buying it for probably 30 years now. And I saw a lot of reports that Costco was selling gold, and I haven’t seen anybody review it on YouTube,” buyer Blaine Silverman said on “The Big Money Show” Thursday.
COSTCO GOLD AND SILVER SALES ‘SEEM TO HAVE GROWN CONSIDERABLY’: WELLS FARGO
Since Costco launched gold in the fall, sales have risen dramatically, according to a research note from Wells Fargo earlier this week.
In the note, Wells Fargo equity analyst Edward Kelly wrote Costco’s sales of gold and silver “seem to have grown considerably” since then-CFO Richard Galanti announced in mid-December the retailer had “sold over $100 million of gold during the [first] quarter.”
Costco gold buyer Blaine Silverman joins The Big Money Show to talk about the wholesale retailers’ gold bar rush. (Costco; FOX Business / Fox News)
Silverman, who bought his first gold bar from the retailer, was one of many who bought at Costco after they launched sales in the fall.
Costco reported it had made $100 million in gold sales after Galanti previously said the 1-ounce bars were going shockingly fast when uploaded on the retailer’s website.
“I featured in my video, and it seemed to be an okay process, but it did take a long time to actually find it in stock, because those things sell out right away,” Silverman said.
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More recently, the wholesaler delved into silver, putting tubes of 1-ounce Canada Maple Leaf Silver Coins up for sale online, FOX Business reported last month.
The research note from Wells Fargo’s Kelly estimated sales of those precious metals “may now be running at $100-200m per month, which would add almost 1% to total comps, slightly more to US comps, and about 3% to gen. merch. sales.”
“I normally buy gold coins like this American gold buffalo. And I think the cheapest I’ve paid is about $1,100,” Silverman explained. “I was mainly into silver in the late 90s and early 2000s. So I got into gold more after around the mid-2000s.”
The veteran buyer said he buys precious metals both as a hedge against inflation and due to the devaluation of U.S. currency.
“I consider this savings. So to me [gold] is money. And then this cabbage here, [a dollar bill], is just debt notes that I use to cash in on money,” Silverman said.
