Big Box - Only in Manhattan would a trip to a big box retailer seem like a journey to a foreign country. This NY Times article feels out of place when read from outside New York. The author beings with this ridiculous premise: "To see what the appeal is, I set out to throw a fancy New York dinner party, and I went to a big-box store to shop for it, to see if it held up to the hype." No one does ALL his shopping at Costco. Of course suburbanites shop at local grocery stores in addition to trips to warehouse clubs. You can't get everything you need for a "fancy New York dinner party" at a single location. One goes to Costco to purchase toilet paper, batteries and frozen chicken, and just might happen to get other gourmet supplies along the way. Consumers don't expect to find a full range of "fine ingedients" at Costco, and that's what makes the entire article seem pointless to me--revealing deep dark retailing secrets that 90% of the country not only already know, but experience on a regular basis at their local warehouse store.