Kyle Rizdahl

BJ's reported last week that quarterly revenue was up nearly 10% from a year ago.

Sam's Club beat expectations, helped by strong gas sales.

This week, Thursday, we'll get the biggest of them all, Costco.

It of the more than 80 million paid memberships worldwide, a number that keeps on growing.

Thanks in part, as Daniel Ackerman is about to explain, to the higher income customers who are still driving so very much of consumer spending right now.

Michael Baker is a retail analyst with D.A.

Davidson and a member of both Costco and BJ's.

I do try to spread it out a little bit and go to both, both for personal and professional reasons.

Though if he finds himself heading out to shop while hungry... Huge fan of the $1.50 hot dog at Costco, so that's a draw for lunch every so often.

Baker says the wholesale clubs, especially Costco, have long appealed to higher income consumers.

Because to get those bulk deals, you need to be able to spend in bulk.

Recently, more and more higher income customers are opting to do that, says Brian Eshelman of Alex Partners.

It's been an ongoing trend, but I think it has been kind of heightened of late because of everything that's going on in the economy writ large.

Put another way, says Neil Saunders of Global Data.

Inflation has been a recruiting sergeant for the wholesale clubs.

To compete with the growing wholesalers, Saunders says retail brands like Walmart are also trying to appeal to those higher income shoppers.

They are making the experience a bit more bougie.

They've got some higher end brands, more interesting products.

Because at the end of the day, Saunders says, It doesn't matter whether you have a lot of money or a little money.

Most Americans love a bargain.