Members-only clubs are charging steep prices — and business is booming

Salon reports on the surge in high-priced members' clubs, citing figures such as Aman New York's roughly $200,000 initiation fee plus $15,000 annual dues and Zero Bond's reported waitlist of about 10,000 people while it admits only a few hundred new members a year. The piece frames scarcity as central to these clubs' appeal, quoting an academic who argues exclusivity only works when membership feels genuinely rare.