Why is Costco so expensive?!

[MooFroo]

I know I probably am BU but went to Costco after ages, and it’s insanely expensive 😳

I was walking around and comparing the prices to Aldi, Lidl and B+M bargains where I normally shop and didn’t find anything cheaper! And because everything is larger sizes or multipacks, it costs even more!

The tills all had queues and lots of people with full trollies - what am I missing??

Is there a hack to Costco shopping for normal households and families or are people happy to pay more for convenience of bulk buying/larger packaging? I know their electrics etc have longer warranties and they have some cool random stuff, but I am talking about every day food, drink and household stuff like cleaning items and pet food.

thanks!

It wasn’t intended as snobbish, more of a reflection of what I have seen in America - and, as you have clarified, it is also your experience of shopping in America/Canada. Just like it’s well known that French people buy fresh bread from the bakers every day, it’s just a different way.

However, I don’t have lots of storage, I don’t want to stockpile groceries, and I don’t live far away from shops. So it doesn’t suit me. It does suit others.

I suspect many people fill their trollies with stuff they're buying for relatives who are not members. Whenever DS is in town he loads up his car with a lot of Costco stuff but also gets items for me - paper towels, huge packs of TP, big tubs of nuts, etc.

I rarely go myself as I can always find better prices elsewhere (mainly Aldi) and grocery items in small enough packaging to store.

The big bags of raw frozen prawns are good value, we use it each year to cater DS' birthday party, (not the cakes but sandwich platters, cookies etc) , for us it's worth it for the petrol alone, tyres were also a good price. I bought a litre each of Fillipo Berio garlic olive oil and chilli olive oil for £11 , in Waitrose the 250ml bottles are £5.95
They're also the only place I can find a big bottle of vanish gold liquid and that stuff is brilliant.

It read as snobbish/ anti American to me too.

The trope of American overconsumption is clear in your remarks.

Thank you to @Mumtobabyhavocfor setting people straight on American (and probably Canadian) shopping habits and ability to store larger size packaging in pantries and fridges/ freezers.

I am in the US and my DS, who I mentioned, lives in an area where the nearest supermarket that stocks fresh vegetables is 75 miles away on rural roads. It's a Walmart, and he pushes a nice full trolley load of food and supplies around it and out to his car about once a month.

DS buys all sorts of useful items in Costco when he's back in civilisation - most recently a Ninja blender at a ridiculously low price. We've bought laptops, winter outerwear, baking supplies, kitchen essentials like foil and parchment paper, and more. The Costco pharmacy is very efficiently run.

Exactly this - and all Large Crew T-shirts sold out at mine yesterday.

The vibe of huge boxes of UPF sheet cakes, massive jugs of syrup and people pushing big overflowing trollies around a warehouse was all a bit too American

No, doesn't sound snobbish at all. 🙄

Aargh, had a dash into Costco for muffins yesterday to take to friends. Wish I’d read this thread earlier. Would have grabbed some shirts.

Well, I didn’t mean it as snobbish so I’ll take your feedback onboard, I was just sharing my thoughts on Costco and that it wasn’t for me.

Someone else’s opinion might be that I don’t have enough friends for a giant cake and my house is too small and lacking in storage to keep extra items. Many people feel the stereotypical American way of shopping is superior and desire it.

I’ve been a member for about 20 yrs and never bought a giant cake , they just don’t appeal but the large sponge topped mince pies at Christmas are the best , they are the only mince pies my husband will eat .

Any person with even a tiny bit of intelligence knows that the comment The vibe of huge boxes of UPF sheet cakes, massive jugs of syrup and people pushing big overflowing trollies around a warehouse was all a bit too American was designed to be a negative (and snobby) portrayal of Americans, and the faux naive ‘I didn’t mean to be snobby, I was just sharing my thoughts’ doesn’t really wash.

Yes they are delicious! Shame they only come in packs of 9 as only 2 of us in the household eat mince pies, but I give a couple to my mum and a couple to my dad and step mum, then DD and I share the rest.
I’ve never bought one of the giant cakes, or ever been to an event where they’ve been served so can’t comment on that particular product, but I will say that it isn’t compulsory to buy them when you shop at Costco, which appears to be a misconception that some on thread have 🤔

I do love Costco but yes, those giant cakes are awful. I did get a couple for large parties when the kids were little, but they are unbearably sweet & tasteless. Also not compulsory 😂

It was compulsory when I was at work. If I let slip we'd been and there wasn't a Carrot cake for the team they'd have gone on strike 😉

We are a family of 2 adults, 1 pre teen and 2 dogs, so we don’t find a lot of the things cheap enough to justify buying in bulk.
My friend with 2 adults & 3 kids buys loads there, but they also have a huge house with loads of storage space to store the bulk items which we don’t. She detests shopping so buys everything in bulk.
The things we do buy there are toilet paper, bottles water, dishwasher tablets which we do find cheap per item. Also homeware items.
Oh and birthday cakes. But the fresh food stuff is not worth it for us unless we were hosting a party or something

I must be the only one here that likes the sheet cakes. If I see one at a party I always hope I get a slice from the edge of the cake for more icing. Yes it’s sweet but I like it and it’s once in a blue moon at a birthday so don’t think it’s going to kill me

The mince pies freeze well…

@tinyspiny- the mince pies can be frozen. We get 3 trays to last us a while, I keep a batch in the kitchen and the rest in the freezer and get them out when “needed”. I love them but my waistline doesn’t!!

Good tip, thank you!

I always hope for a corner piece of cake, too! 😋😂

Regarding the sheet cakes: the filling between the two layers is custard, which is not my preference. If it was a thin custard layer I would like it better, though. My preference is icing.

I'm curious: what is the filling in the UK Costco sheet cakes?

If that's the way you talk, then may I suggest you do sound very snobbish? And judgmental as well.
Your intent to espouse a very specific opinion was obvious. I'll leave it at that.🇨🇦

It’s like a fake whipped cream sometimes with jam depending on who ordered it. I’d prefer another layer of frosting

Sometimes all that sweet fake stuff hits the spot. 😋😊

No fake custard in the UK ones, or at least when I had them. As far as I remember it was jam?

Jam sounds much nicer! 😋