As far as shelves being "sparse", Costco must be doing their year-end inventory. I had to get my milk from a plastic-wrapped pallet on an upper shelf, because all the other milk of that type where it was normally at floor level was sold. Luckily, another customer had requested a worker get that milk for them, so the worker was already on a ladder cutting the wrap.
The aisles were all very neatly stocked, and the upper shelves' products were all wrapped up with DNI (Do Not Inventory) signs on most. I did leave without CoffeeMate creamer, turkey cold cuts, Friskie's cat food, and paper plates. If they had those things, they were wrapped and put up where I couldn't see.
There were also noticeable "holes" where items were sold out/moved, which I wasn't shopping for, like large containers of cooking oils. The bread racks were also not fully stocked, which is unusual.They normally have someone in that area constantly rotating the bread to keep it packed.
Overall, the store looked neater and cleaner than at any other time I can remember.
I'll check the hamburger prices when I go back. Costco started putting 5 lb bags of 1 lb @ packages of burger in the frozen foods section. Makes it nice to not have to vacuum pack a mound of beef in 1lb vac&seal bags. I noticed the price jumped in Dec by almost a buck in less than a week -- last price I remember was $23.95 for the 5 lbs IIRC. I'll have to check my receipt to be sure. Curious now if the price is lower.