costco - any good?

[summer rain]

I've checked it out, but I'm not that impressed.
There are a handful of good deals, but I get cheaper and better quality at my local grocery store.
My attitude towards Costco is summed up by the spoof the Simpsons did on it several years ago. Marge was wandering through one and held up this huge box and said, "Oh my! That is a good price for 12 lbs of nutmeg!". I found it really funny because it's true - the best deals seem to be these gigantic quantities of obscure items.
Lots of people swear by it, but I can't figure out the appeal. If you enjoy it and it works for your budget, go for it, though!

I agree. In the UK they don't even have a good selection of raw ingredients; in the US one you can get stuff like bulk quantities of powdered milk but they don't sell that here it is mainly convenience foods and my local branch which we didn't bother to renew our membership with because it was so inconsistent and would often be a wasted trip-about 2/3 of the store was TVs, expensive office furniture, car mechanic equipment and cleaning stuff, beauty products, toiletries etc and only 1/3 was food and household. Also they do clothes but the range of sizes is extremely limited (no plus sizes) and the stuff isn't actually that cheap-there is far better quality and cheaper clothing in normal supermarkets.

 

[Sarahkka]

I've checked it out, but I'm not that impressed.
There are a handful of good deals, but I get cheaper and better quality at my local grocery store.
My attitude towards Costco is summed up by the spoof the Simpsons did on it several years ago. Marge was wandering through one and held up this huge box and said, "Oh my! That is a good price for 12 lbs of nutmeg!". I found it really funny because it's true - the best deals seem to be these gigantic quantities of obscure items.
Lots of people swear by it, but I can't figure out the appeal. If you enjoy it and it works for your budget, go for it, though!

it is a wholeseller... thats kinda the idea!

What is the idea? 12 pounds of nutmeg?
The Simpsons make a good point: there are some great deals on bulk and giant-sized items, but only some of them are staples that actually make sense to the average household.
Don't get me wrong - lots of people score good deals at Costco, but I know a lot of people who do their regular grocery shopping there and they are definitely not saving money by doing so. Produce and meat are on par or more expensive than my grocery, and I have way way more selection at mine. And I don't have to pay for a membership to shop at mine, either.
I know the idea is that it is a wholesale warehouse type place, but most people I know don't treat it like that. So there is the danger of this illusion of saving money.
But like I said, if you like shopping there, then power to you.

 

[indy and lara]

Beginning to think my experience at Costco is very different from ours?

We really like it. I buy the loo rolls (considerably cheaper than in supermarket), cans of diet coke, cereal bars, cans of tomatoes for cooking, enormous bottles of squash and a few other regulars. I like the butchers. The beef is from a local farm of someone I know so I know it is good quality and considerably cheaper than our local butcher. I also like the fish and find it considerably cheaper again.

They have a great range of books and great book based gifts especially for kids' parties- recently bought Em a sticker book for £4.99 which was £9.99 in WhSmiths and on Amazon. There are often good deals on cleaning things which are more adhoc. We have a lot of outdoor storage space so the bulk buying element works for us. We have catered both of Emma's parties using their deli which has been great value and so stress for us. I wouldn't say it was somewhere you can buy all your shopping but you can make big savings depending on what you buy.

 

[Pink Flowers]

I think in America there are more "bulk" shops so costco doesnt seem that good but over here there are only a few shops that do bulk items.

 

[summer rain]

Like I said it depends on your local costco, my local one does have a large selection of books but a lot of them can be bought the same price or cheaper from the book people and other discount book sellers. Also in London there are a lot of bulk buying places, not all of them are big chains but they often have really good deals so it depends on if costco have a monopoly in your area or not-as for cleaning stuff I use a lot of money off coupons and with deals in normal supermarkets+ coupons I have never found an offer in Makro or Costco (or any other wholesaler) that comes close. We are planning to join Makro when my OH finally gets his green badge (just waiting for his finals now) as taxi drivers are one of the people allowed to join it, I personally think the offers in Makro are better but we'd still only go there for toilet rolls and kitchen bins and other bits and pieces you really can't get cheaper elsewhere xx

 

[Blah11]

I go to the same one as indy and lara.. maybe our costco is just better than others? I'd never try and do my entire weekly shop there :\ think it'd be costly and wouldn't work unless i wanted to only eat 1 type of vegetable/meat/fruit for the week. I go maybe once a month to stock up on things in bulk.
i like costco because you can also get quite a few american items in there for noninflated imported prices like you can. An example is skippy peanut butter. I can get a HUGE jar (i think its 1kg worth) for under £4 and asda does 350g for £2.26 they do really good deals on bottled water and often have a BOGOF on buxton water so you get 24L for £6.

 

[Eala]

I like the Edinburgh and Glasgow ones. They tend to be good for the likes of washing powder, there are quite often deals on that make the big boxes really cheap compared to the supermarket.

Incidentally, their own brand (Kirkland) dried cat food is brilliant value. Same ingredients (eg meat first, not cereals) as the stuff you would pay £40+ for 10kg of somewhere like Pets at Home, but it's only about £17 (roughly) for a 10kg bag.

When it comes to other stuff, you either need to suss out what you're planning on buying beforehand to check if it'll be cheaper, or have a smartphone with you to check prices as you go around.

We didn't renew our membership this year, but only because my parents are members and it seemed daft to pay for two lots of membership when I can just go with my Mum anytime we need anything!

 

[xashleyx]

the only thing i like at costco are the MASSIVE cupcakes...they are gorgeous x

 

[My_First]

We use the one in Reading regularly for staples. Toilet Paper, baby wipes, nappies, fabric softener etc. They have an extended warranty of their TV goods that match John Lewis and is normally a bit cheaper.

I woudl say shop aroundl, and compare the deals. We call it the £100 shop, because we dont normally go in and spend less than £100...

 

[Kay_Baby]

I use the Reading one as well. My parents actually have the membership I just go with them. Something’s are not cheaper so you need an idea of what you want costs normally. I have bought everything from mayo to food bags to pizza to washing powder.

I regularly buy my nappies, tinned tomatoes, tinned tuna, OJ, cans of drink, toilet paper and kitchen rolls there as they are cheaper and I have lots of room to store that sort of thing.

The bakery is amazing, no big family party is complete without a big costco apple pie. It always disappears first.

Me and my mum also split a lot of things between us to make them more practical sizes for two smaller households.

I have also bought an electrical item from them. We were looking to buy a specific item so knew exactly whatthe best price was to buy it and I just happened to check in costco in case they did it the day before we placed the order and there it was £40 cheaper.