[donkules37]

Sure, loosing 20% of you business would make any manufacturer nervous. However, this is clearly not the case. 20% of the sales are made on the off-premise channel. Costco is a piece of that 20% pie. I don't know the exact number of household that are able to shop at Costco but I venture to guess it's not a major number compared to other national account chains. Of those Costco shoppers, not all of them are buying vodka, and not all of them are buying the Kirkland vodka since as you know, Costco also sells Grey Goose. Another thing to consider is the fact that there are states in which all liquor sales are controlled and operated by the state...so Costco is not even a player in several states. So when you look at all these things, hopefully you can understand why I would say that it's not a "major threat".