Costco going upmarket?

[Stratman]

Chateau Latour £889.99 per bottle

Does anyone have a Costco card? Are they a viable alternative to high street supermarkets for regular shopping?

 

[Red C220]

We got a membership through my company a year ago and I never went there once.

I often found items they sold cheaper on line.

 

[tonysurf]

Good for bulk buying, not much else though

 

[DSB SL AMG]

I did have a membership but didn't use much so gave it up...good for bulk stuff as above, they used to be okay on tyres, they did only sell and fit Michelin, not sure how competitive they would be now with all the online tyre sites...

 

[boxbrownie]

For electrical items the warranty is second to none, prices good also.

 

[bob6600]

For electrical items the warranty is second to none, prices good also.

+1

the nice lady at customer services advised me that white goods were covered for at lest 7 years and in essence everything is required to last a 'reasonable' amount of time, explaining that she had never seen a refund refused. This has been echoed by friends who have made purchases there so not just sales pitch. You don't even need the receipt as they have all the items bought under your membership number.

It is a bit like a cash and carry but I have found all their stuff to be of decent quality.

It won't replace your weekly supermarket shop but one a month can save you some money as you can bulk buy stuff which works out cheaper.

Well worth the membership fee imo

 

[airportstar]

Hotdog and soda

 

[moonloops]

Electricals are expensive but as mentioned you get cast iron warranty. Bulk tea, coffee, cans of pop and water are dirt cheap.. e.g. a bottle of water in a shop in london = £1.00 to £1.50 Costco water less than 20p

 

[Giantvanman]

Does anyone have a Costco card? Are they a viable alternative to high street supermarkets for regular shopping?

Yes. No, sort off.

They stock some things all the time (from cornflakes to ketchup to butter to fruit and veg) but other things are luck of the draw.

I've been a member for many years and use them every month to six weeks (now I am down to one freezer) and mostly buy chicken, beef, lamb, salmon fish, cereals, cooked chicken breast, mince, Lurpak and the like. The quality is decent and a lot cheaper than the supermarket especially those items (twin 1kg cornflakes less than one box from supermarket). Oh, and loo, kitchen rolls, tissues, cleaning products, washing powder/tablets and dishwasher stuff.

The main reason we don't buy fruit or veg normally is that they are always sold in large quantities….a tray of twenty oranges, a whole banana tree, enough lettuce to keep a petting zoo going

As others have said, their customer service is great and warranties excellent. If you are considering membership, Trade is better because it allows entry at 10am before everyone else at noon and if you can get a little group together, Executive Membership is good for the money back side. I haven't paid for membership for years using this scheme.

 

[tec]

We got a membership through my company a year ago and I never went there once.

I often found items they sold cheaper on line.

I had a card for a year.

I went to the store once but never bought anything as their prices are not that great, apart from once a year there might be something at a good price that you actually want.

Also I don't live near any of their stores, so a complete waste of money if I had renewed my membership.

The long queues at the checkouts also put me off buying anything.

You can buy most things cheaper at Morrisons.

 

[Howard]

Chateau Latour £889.99 per bottle

Does anyone have a Costco card? Are they a viable alternative to high street supermarkets for regular shopping?

In the sunbury cross one they have a diamond ring for £279,000 and a massive bottle of Cristal for £18,000

Can't imagine they sell too many.

Queues are fine , even the longest one is gone in a few minutes. The new one at sunbury cross is madness as it's the run up to Christmas , but I've never queued for longer than 10 mins.

 

[E55BOF]

They still treat you like a suspected criminal as you leave, though...

It always annoys me, but I suppose they don't trust their staff.

Makro are generally better value for domestic stuff like kitchen roll, toilet roll, washing powder and the like. They're much less busy, too. I don't bulk buy food, so the Costco special offers are of little use to me.

If you want a stunning selection of cheap 'n chavvy Christmas decorations, you can't beat Costco, though.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Their tin foil and Kirkland white T-shirts are of excellent quality.

Ant.

 

[BIRMA]

I wonder what it's value will be after 2028 when it's supposed to be at its best

 

[Palfrem]

I like Costco.

Tyres are still competitive, meat and fish top quality, bulk washing powders and bathroom stationery good value, beers and pop at very good prices. Books often cheaper than Amazon. Savvy shoppers will spot good offers on spirits from time to time.

Just bought a professional quality stainless steel frying pan for less than £18

Seasonal gardening stuff (compost, fertiliser, etc.) usually good value too.

They do huge pizzas that are about the best I have had.

 

[BTB 500]

We go there at least once a month to stock up on household essentials. You need to keep an eye open for the monthly special offers (you get a booklet sent to you) as these are where the big savings are. Otherwise you can often match 'branded' prices at Tesco, Sainsbury etc. if you shop around.

All their 'own brand' stuff (Kirkland) - food, clothing, etc. - is excellent quality ... don't think I've ever been disappointed. We get cheeses, meats, fruit, veg, etc. there and some basic clothing like the plain white T shirts already mentioned! We normally come away with some spare ribs or pizza, both of which are great. The majority of the fresh food is prepared in-store, including lots of bakery stuff.

If you're eligible for membership and have a store within striking distance I would definitely give it a try for a year. The only slightly odd thing I can think of (apart from the cursory trolley inspection on the way out) is that they don't take credit cards apart from Amex.

They do carry a fair few high-end items e.g. jewellery (some pieces over £400k), watches (up to £10k) and wines (over £12k for a Nebuchadnezzar of champagne).

 

[Red C220]

The only slightly odd thing I can think of (apart from the cursory trolley inspection on the way out) is that they don't take credit cards apart from Amex.

It's an American company so probably has a reasonable arrangement.

We take anything but AMEX as it has absurd commission levels and takes 10 days to arrive in your account.

 

[bob6600]

It's an American company so probably has a reasonable arrangement.

We take anything but AMEX as it has absurd commission levels and takes 10 days to arrive in your account.

That and the fact debit cards charge pence and credit cards charge circa 2.5% which all adds up when average customer spend is so high.

 

[BTB 500]

Costco have their own Amex card too, so yes I assume they have some sort of deal.

A lot of places do take Amex now. I have both Amex and Visa cards on the same MBNA account, but I get 4 times the reward points on the Amex one so I try to use that whenever possible

 

[Red C220]

That and the fact debit cards charge pence and credit cards charge circa 2.5% which all adds up when average customer spend is so high.

We chose to pay a flat 1.5% on all cards and it works for us as much of what we take is business Visa/Mastercard which can be silly commission (as much as 4%).

But we're a trade supplier so it's unusual that we get lots of retail debit card sales. Add to that a reasonable size average transaction value.

Obviously it's different if you're a newsagent and the world and his wife are buying a pack of ciggies and a newspaper by card.

These things are negotiable, even AMEX have been trying to court us, but ultimately we don't need to take them as pointed out, they often give a dual AMEX/Visa account to cover those that don't take Visa, which is us.