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| - Costco is possibly one of the best and worst thing to happen to my wallet. The idea of paying $50 to save more is counterintuitive to theidea of NOT spending to save. But for those who have a big family (or big appetite) or the largest chest freezer in the world, Costco is for you. BUT for those who have small families like mine, I've actually saved money by shopping here even though I could never use the 3 kg of ground beef fresh before it goes bad. It's all about figuring if you are a 'typical' shopper for the store's region and you normally buy repeating things.
My family loves greek yogurt, salads, and frozen blueberries. We possibly inhale them so when I looked at the Costco normal proces compared to the regular AND sale prices at FreshCo, Highland, and Superstore, Costco came out ahead... by a fair bit! They were nearly 30% cheaper before any sales was applied to them. Costco is all about leveraging BIG MASSIVE volumes to get a cheaper price. So if your family can eat 3 regular sized tubs of greek yogurt in 3 weeks, you'd save 30% at Costco. If your family uses a 2 kg sized blueberry bag (same size as a PC brand large bluberry), that's another 30%. All of this adds up quickly to some sizeable savings. In one month, I'd probably saved already $25. Another things about Costco is that they often sell the same brand or items at the normal stores but at larger sizes and lower costs! We found this out about the hand soap, canned tunas, and jar'd tomato.
The meat and seafood areas are astonishing because I've never seen so many slabs of meat in one place outside a club. At first glance, the prices seem high but you may notice that the quality of meat is AAA compared to the AA of the normal stores. When you have to BBQ and impress, this is the place to go as the meat has wonderful marbling. This costco also has a seafood 'fare' where they sell the most succulent and insanely big seafood items I've seen. Last time they had scallops 3 inches across and shrimp the same size as canner lobsters. All at prices that were reasonable (and yet insane to the normal person).
The fresh fruit/vegetable area is probably the least impressive. Once in a while they'll have sales but the prices aren't that amazing. What's amazing is the value. You can nab a 6 pack of avocados for $5. Sounds similar to the normal stores? Yup but the superstore ones are DOUBLE the size of the ones found at Superstore or Freshco. We had a party and made 3 batches of 2 litre sized bowls of guacamole and we still had one avocado left over!! Selection for fresh fruit is VERY limited. It's best to head over to another store for veggies and fruits imo.
The store itself is big and clean. You can fit probably 4 carts across the aisles. You'd think this is nuts and could go smaller aisles but on Saturday after 11 am, you need EVERY inch. Costco has these sampling locales at every end of the aisles and they're CROWDED with people eating their snack/lunch in this manner. It feels like Christmas shopping time every weekend. There's also probably 15 check out lines and during the prime time, it's easy to wait 10 minutes. I avoid this by going at the opening time at 9 am on Saturday or 10 am Sunday to grab a few items. It saves my sanity because the parking is just as nuts too.
Another particular plus about this store is that they do oil changes and tires too! We found out that my winter tires were nearly 20% off cheaper than any competitor!
All said, I know I will get my money's worth and more from this place ... I just need the freezer space, iron will to not buy 10 kg of wine gums or dark chocolate covered blueberries, and the patience of a nun to continue shopping here!
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