I give them credit for explaining their original decision (blaming the book supplier, but whatever), reviewing the situation. and very quickly reversing the decision.
I don't. Their excuse doesn't hold water and I think they're lying to try and cover their butts. If they had come out with a sincere apology like "A merchandising executive overstepped his bounds and pulled the book because of his personal beliefs, so we have fired him and corrected the situation" then I would accept the explanation.
This explanation sounds like the IRS' "oops, perhaps we made a mistake, but we didn't mean it... let's all move on now".
It wasn’t “the book supplier” but Costco’s own book buyer, a significant figure in the book distribution network.
Precisely because of the limited display space her choices can really boost sales. People grovel before her hoping to get that bulk sale.