Shoppers snap up $100M in gold bars from Costco in last quarter

• The retailer sells 1 oz. gold bars for just over $2,000 a pop, with a limit of two bars per Costco membership, per the online store.

Yes, but: The bars usually sell out hours after being posted on the retailer's online store.

• The 1 oz. Gold Bar PAMP Suisse Lady Fortuna Veriscan was unavailable on the site Friday.

Thought bubble, from Axios' Felix Salmon: Buying physical gold is an investment strategy that's thousands of years old, and Costco has made it easier than ever.

• A single bar of gold is both expensive enough to be a store of real value and cheap enough that a large proportion of Costco's membership can afford it.

The big picture: Costco's annual revenue is $242 billion, so $0.1 billion in profit from the gold bars isn't likely to move the needle.

• But gold isn't the only high-ticket item the company is selling.
• Costco sold an autographed Babe Ruth index card for $20,000 in the same quarter.

The catch: With gold, if it goes up in value and you want to cash in your gains, it's much harder to sell than it is to buy.

Go deeper: What China's economy has to do with record gold price