Popular wholesale retailer Costco is now in Manhattan. Finally, Big Apple residents looking to take advantage of the bargains offered at this superstore will have ample opportunity to save. In this economy, every penny counts as more and more people are looking for ways to stretch their hard-earned dollars. Wcbstv.com reports:

Super-wholesaler Costco, which failed to open a Manhattan store in three previous attempts over the last decade, will unveil Thursday a 105,000 square-foot discount emporium at East River Plaza, a shopping mall overlooking the FDR at 116th street.

Other big retailers like Target and Marshalls are expected to move in starting in the Spring. The East River Plaza complex will be offering some 1,200 paid parking spaces.

This Costco, because its on the cramped isle of Manhattan, will be fifty percent smaller than the average Costco. Fans of the chain, who pay a $50 annual membership fee, brag about the great deals on a variety of products from High-Definition TVs to gallons of low-fat milk.

We recently related the news that Costco is now accepting food stamps, along with other major savings hubs like Target and Wal-Mart. Now Costco is moving into a market known for high prices, positioning the penny-pinchers' paradise as a major buying mecca. With other low-cost retailers planning to move into the same Manhattan mall after Costco arrives, it is evident that this trend is a smart response of businesses to the lowering incomes of consumers in a typically high-income market.

It's great that discount giants are responding to this need, but what does it mean for the growth of the economy if more and more people need to shop at cheaper stores in order to survive? Is this a bad omen for things to come, or an indication that Americans are spending more realistically with a mind towards saving? I hope for our collective fiscal health, the case is the latter.