Costco's $1 Million Diamond Ring

Next time you visit Houston warehouse superstore Costco, you may want to make room among the socks, paper towels and cupcakes in your cart for one more item—a million dollar diamond ring. The retail giant has just added a top-of-the-line diamond engagement ring to its jewelry lineup (and no, it doesn’t come in a multipack.) While Costco shoppers across the country will probably stop and stare in middle of the aisle when they see this stunner of a ring, Houstonians are used to buying engagement rings under far better, and more convenient conditions, so they will probably not be too surprised by the latest addition to the Houston engagement ring market.

In a sprawling city with few zoning laws, Houston jewelry stores have always found themselves in the most unlikely of places, from busy supermarket shopping plazas to quiet office buildings downtown. Plus, Houston diamonds are much like the city itself—big and bold. So is it any wonder that Costco—known for selling bigger boxes of pretzels and larger packages of paper plates than anyone else—has entered the tiffany ring market with a bigger, bolder engagement ring than one would normally expect to find in a supermarket warehouse?

The ring is a 6.77 carat solitaire diamond (IF clarity and D color) set on a platinum band. It is, by all accounts, a spectacular ring, but before you put “buy diamond rings” on your shopping list, think about what a ring being sold for one million dollars doesn’t have.

Houston diamond shoppers are a knowledgeable, savvy bunch, and they know that at any price, a diamond ring is all about personalization and customization. If you are spending that kind of money on a ring, you should have your choice of loose diamonds, a custom-designed band, and the setting of your dreams, not a one-size-fits-all ring you picked up near the gallon drum of motor oil. Plus, the ring literally comes in one size—seven—and to get it resized you will have to pay extra at a local jeweler.

Read a few online reviews and talk to a few friends who have done it before, and you’ll realized that when you want to buy diamonds and diamond jewelry, you will want the kind of customer service that walks you through every step of the process with care and expert knowledge. Costco employees, dedicated as they may be, are not graduate gemologists and will not be able to answer your detailed questions between doling out free samples of tortilla chips and heading to the cleanup in aisle four.