Costco - is it worth the joining fee?

[mamhaf]

A Costco has just opened nearby. We'd have to pay around £29 to get membership.

If you shop at Costco, would you recommend it? Is it worth the joining fee or are places like Aldi and Lidl just as cheap for basics like loo paper, fruit juice, fruit and veg?

And what is the quality like please?

TIC.

Thanks everyone...I'm a bit worried we'd get carried away and buy stuff we don't need - but we do have storage space.

Presumably you can go for a look with someone who is a member? If so I think I'll try to do that first.

We shop every week at costco and top up at supermarket for the stuff we can't get at costco.

Stuff lasts longer and is generally cheaper. You are probably still paying £2.10 for 6 pints of milk whereas I am paying £1.60 We go through 12- 18 pints a week so it is a big saving.

We eat a lot of peppers so we can buy a 6 pack that works out at 49p each whereas in the supermarket they were 88p each. A bag of salad is about 3 times as big but lasts longer than the supermarket. Strawberries are delicious and flavoursome and come in a 1kg tub. I laugh in the face of a teeny punnet from the supermarket.

Also we buy a huge tub of cherry tomatoes, they are as firm 6 days later, we use them up in spag bol or a curry the day before we go back to costco but they are still perfectly fresh.

Toilet roll - tesco own brand worked out to the same cost as andrex triple velvet but then costco do their own which is 3 ply and it is cheaper.

You will need huge storage for it though as you will buy about 60 rolls in a go

We buy a large barrel of kenco coffee, huge fairy washing up liquid (you have to decant it into a normal bottle) a wheel of brie (yes we share that!)

Your freezer has to be your best friend, like chicken breast you buy as a pack of 12 breasts.

We buy 2 loaves of bread (you have to buy it as a 2 pack but is lasts 6 days!) and we have granary, its £1.80 for the two and we were paying well over £1 per loaf in tesco.

You can walk away from stuff you may not need and then go back, there is no compulsory purchase!

For the first time we went we didn't actually buy much but we wrote down everything we thought that we would buy and then compared it to tesco where we usually shopped. The majority of stuff worked out cheaper. The meat is better quality, steak, tuna steaks are massive and we buy a whole half of a salmon cut it into portions and freeze.

No - they do not take credit cards so it is either cash, cheque (I think) or switch. Definitely cash and switch.

We are complete converts, they do lovely hot cooked chicken, they have taste samples of absolutely loads of stuff (the children love it) pancakes and maple syrup, chicken stir fry, they are always promoting the products.

I wont have a bad word said about it!

Went to the brand new Cardiff one at the weekend.

It's fab, would def use it to buy cereal, tea bags cleaning products etc, and you only had to buy 3 of everything, not 200, as I had expected.

They also had lots of good electric buys-DH was v impressed with the laptops/ipod etc, and I, trgicaly, took a fancy to a new vacuum cleaner.

Costco is fab. The quality is very good.
Not everyhting is cheap thoug. You have to keep an eye on the prices.
I LOVE Costco.

Yes, you need to know prices in the supermarket - some things work out more expensive. We always buy tinned tomatoes - normally organic chopped cheaper than most supermarket non-organic. Good for parties. Good for soft drinks and water. Bought ds lots of coloured tissue paper for not much money compared to ££ in most shops.

Costco have a fantastic returns policy. They guarantee items for the lifespan of the product. For example I recently returned a 4 year old iron which wasn't working propery (which I dropped, although I didn't mention this when I returned it!). They immediately gave my money back, no questions. We always buy our electricals from there, even if slightly more expensive because of this policy.

You also get 2 cards with your membership so my mum and I split the fee.

Forgot to say their peking crispy duck is fantastic value. £7 for a whole duck with pancakes, delicious! Also frozen lamb shanks are great.

someone brought some of their cookies to a kids party and I honestly thought they were homemade..can't be bad

I go every few months, I tend to buy stuff that doesn't perish; t bags, washing powder, dw tablets, fabric conditioner, nappies, dog food and toilet rolls. I agree that not everything is cheap, but I've saved a lot of money there just on those things.

Costco cookies. emoticion

And their cakes. OH MY GOD. Everyone I know loves them. For a tenner. Bargain. Huge. Soft fluffy. So tasty. Best EVER.

ahhhhhhhhhh, cost co cakes, costco cakes,

oblomov floats off.

Their burgers are good. You slap on the bbq. When you take it off, it is practically the same weight. Sign of a good 'un.

Agree with playdo. Their returns policy is beyond anything I have ever seen. I have posted about this many times. No quibbles. Something doesn't work, 4 yrs later. No trouble. Replace. No questions asked.

It is the best, best thing about them.

on their website it says you have to be able to provide evidence of trading. How do you get membership?

Califrau,

You know where the old Cardiff Blues football stadium is in Leckwith, off Ninian Park Road? That site has been re-developed, with a new stadium, plus an Asda/Costco etc.

I phoned them, and you're allowed to have temporary membership for nothing which means you can look around but not buy anything.

We thought the quality and range of goods was absolutely superb, but for the stuff we tend to buy it was actually more expensive than buying certain things like paper towels and loo rolls in Aldi and then topping up elsewhere.

For example, peppers are around 33p each in Aldi currently, 49p each in Costco.

Dh also has a Makro card though - I think if we didn't have that, we'd probably have joined Costco.

The fact that they only take debit cards also put me off - no Air Miles to collect! And I was a bit worried we'd go mad and buy stuff we don't really need - especially if dds were with us.

Thanks for everyone's answers.

Yes, it's worth it. I love it. Will go sometime next week.

It is nothing like Aldi and Lidl - everything they sell is top quality.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree - the quality was fantastic and it's nothing like Aldi or Lidl...if I wasn't trying to save money on our household bills I'd definitely join.

But the temptation would be too much and I'd end up spending more than normal!

We currently use Aldi for very basic stuff - loo rolls, washing powder etc and then top up from the local butchers/organic box and another supermarket...one advantage of Costco is that it's all under one roof, but not much organic stuff that I could see.

Also, I do kind of object to paying nearly £30(membership) to spend money with them...I wonder why they do that? Is it to keep the traders happy?