I have ever considered club stores. Something just seemed wrong about paying to buy groceries. I finally decided to research the value of a club membership. Armed with 3 important tools (notebook, calculator and Yelp reviews), I hit the store on guest pass. My wife and I spent an hour carefully examining the items we would normally buy, calculating the cost per unit, and estimating how often we would need to purchase the larger quantities. After comparing them to our regular grocers this is what we discovered. Our produce is usually a better deal at the farm market we go to or when on sale at one of the major chain stores. the meat deals featured in the flyer are a better deal. I also found that at my local Safeway on Thursday morning at 8am meat is marked 50% off if it needs to be sold that day.
Costco comes out ahead on health and beauty as well as paper products. Eggs and dairy are a bargain. Some brands we like they didn't have.
Conclusion: in the long run we would save more than the $60.00 membership fee in a year f o r the things we buy regularly. We are now Costco Club members.