FULL OF GOODIES
I am one of the lucky ones who is
allowed to join this huge store full of goodies.
We paid an annual fee of £24 to become a member.
Some may ask is it work it. The answer is yes. It
is an American company and they sell everything
you can imagine.
They sell products that you will not find
anywhere else. You can really get some products a
lot cheaper than other stores. Their electrical
products for instance can save you up to £100.
They sell camcorders, wide-screen TV's and PC
equipment. They also sell everything a business
would require. Drinks machines, fridges etc...
As you proceed further into the store you will
see the jewellery, the ornaments and all the
other gifts and goodies. They sell all the
household equipment you could think of and a lot
cheaper than elsewhere.
You can smell the bakery department from the
entrance. Here they make hot cross buns, Danish
pastries and American muffins. An excellent
service is the birthday cake seervice.
It is so easy. All you have to do is write down
on a piece of paper the messege you want on a
cake and two days later it is there on the shelf.
The meat section is vast and you can pick up a
whole range of different foods from all over the
world. The only disadvantage is that everything
in the food hall is in bulk apart from the
delicious hot, cooked chickens.
The boring section is the household products and
tinned food which is good but is not as much fun
as the rest of the store. Again you can only buy
in large quanties. We go to Costco every
christmas specifically for the fruit, the meat,
the discount toys and the cheap booze.
On the whole it saves you a lot of money in the
long run by bulk buying. Also their toys and
electrical equipment are a lot cheaper than
elsewhere. weeonelass |
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COSTCO - SHOPPERS
COMMENTS
 The aim of Costco
is to provide their members with quality goods at the
lowest possible prices, there are various warehouse type
places open to the public that try to do this, but none
so well as Costco in my experience. Costco have two types
of membership, either trade, you have provide evidence
that you own or manage a business, e.g. VAT registration
certificate or business utility bill) or individual
membership. You are eligible for individual membership if
you are employed in or retired from:
Banking/finance
Civil servant
Education
Fire/rescue
Insurance
Local government
Medical
Police
Solicitor or barrister
or you are qualified as:
Chartered
architect/engineer/surveyor
Dentist
Media - press card holder
Optician
Pharmacist
Qualified accountant
To apply for membership, take along with you
your employee ID card, payslip or copy of your
professional qualification and a utility bill proving
your home address. You do have to pay for membership
which at £25 plus VAT seems quite steep. You do get 2
cards (one for your spouse) for this price and each card
allows the card holder and 2 guests entry to the
warehouse. Children are welcome in the warehouse, but you
are asked to keep a close eye on them as there are
forklifts busy stocking the shelves.
Once you have gained entry to the warehouse, they always
check your card on entry, you will be amazed and
overwhelmed with the amount of stock they carry. There
are electronics for office home and resale including
PC'c, printers, scanners, TV's, videos, DVD's, stereo's
camcorders and cameras. We bought a TV/Video combi unit
for £80 (inc vat) which I though was a bargain
especially as it has a remote control too (another one to
lose)! They stock all well known brands, Phillips, Lec,
Goodmans, HP and so on.
You can also buy food here! There is a fabulous array of
fresh foods on sale, a tray of 24 fresh baked (large)
croissants cost £1.99! 18 large skinless chicken breasts
for £11. All the products on sale are suitable for home
freezing as long as they are frozen on the day you buy
them. There are loaves of bread, cakes, wedding cakes,
birthday cakes almost too much to mention! From personal
experience the meat is of excellent quality and it is
also available to try, there are staff members in all the
aisles cooking a selection of the food on sale.
There is also a fantastic array of snack on confections
on sale, whole boxes of walkers crips (48 packets)
approximately £6. Chocolate like you wouldn't
believe..........drool. Again all the tops names at
really knockdown prices, (Walkers, Pringles, Sunny
Delight, McVities and Golden Wonder to name but a few).
You can also go mad in the aisles with wines and spirits,
I didn't take much notice of the prices not being a
drinker, but we did come home with 30 cans of Guinness
for £25! Hmmmm
There is a large selection on home products also, washing
powder, toliet rolls, washing up liquid, bleach. A large
bottle of bleach (5 litres) will set you back the
princely sum of £3.82!  Although I wouldn't
recommend buying the large toliet rolls! (5 packets
containing 9 rolls maybe cheap but its bloody awkward and
heavy to carry!) It is possible to stock up on your
groceries here, for a smaller family this won't perhaps
be too much value as large tubs of margarine or bottles
of mayonaise will go off quickly, but we stocked up with
tea bags, and coffee, again top brands only are sold.
Health and beauty products are also worth checking out
and filling your trolley with, everything from boxes of
pampers nappies, to tooth brushes to sanitary products,
all at unbelievable prices. I was surprised to find an
optical section, and was even more surprised to find not
only do they do sight tests, but supply the glasses too!
The sight test is £9.99 (usual high street price
£14.99+) and single vision lenses are £29.99, I know
where I will be going when my specs need changing!
Costco also provide a tyre service, I haven't checked
this out as yet, but I have been told that they will
check your tyres and change them whilst you shop, and
they are very competitively priced. The only
disappointment I had with Costco, was the toy section was
relatively small, they had a few tents and paddling
pools, but that was about it. Maybe nearer christmas this
department will fill up a little. You can use company or
personal cheques at Costco and debit cards, they do not
take credit cards due to the high cost of making the
transaction.
After payment you load your shopping either into empty
boxes (provided) there are no bags, again to keep the
cost down and you can then sit and have a well earned
break in their café, this is just a roped off area in
the main warehouse, but you can sample some of their
fresh baking/pizza etc, again this is good value. It is a
good idea NOT to pack your boxes, but to put your
shopping back in the trolley and take the boxes out with
you, as you are stopped at the exit and a staff member
counts your products against your till reciept, as long
as that tallies you are free to go and load your car!
All in all I did wonder whether the membership fee would
be worth it, my conclusion, yes it definately is. We
saved a total of £59 shopping at Costco for health
products, pet foods and meat compared to shops prices, a
definate bargain. indigojade
My family
visit Costco's at least once every 2 months and sometimes
more. I got married a year and half ago and most of the
items we needed for the reception, including paper cups,
plates, bowls etc came from Costo as we needed these
items in bulk and it was cheaper. However there is the
problem that occassionally you may overestimate the
amount of a product that you need and it could end up in
the bin. tas1
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