How Costco became a 'third place'
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@jon-nyc - It depends on what you buy. For us...
It's one-stop shopping for us for a ton of stuff. As far as quantities, we have a basement with a freezer and a pantry area for the non-perishables.
Our shopping habits have definitely evolved as we've gotten older. We've shifted buying of perishables in the veg and fruit category to other stores because Costco quantities didn't make sense anymore; we just don't eat as much as we did in our younger youth and we don't entertain. We freeze butcher shop purchases like chicken and beef. Since Mr wtg's stroke I find I don't have as much time to cook, so we have turned to some of the prepared stuff, both the Costco products and other fresh and frozen entrees. Tinned fish (they even carry Fishwife now), chili, pasta sauce, Indian simmer sauces...they are constantly bringing in new items that we really like.
Not being fashion mavens, a lot of our wardrobe comes from Costco. Shirts, pants, socks, loungewear, and shoes are all from Costco. The step-in Skechers are $30. Such a deal!
I also order stuff from costco.com. All my raised garden beds came via Costco at a deep discount off regular retail.
We don't buy much in the way of electronics, but when we do, it's from Costco. Laptops, iPads, SimpliSafe monitoring system, TVs.
Also gasoline. Costco is usually 25 cents a gallon cheaper than other stations. The pharmacy is hard to beat on price, both for prescription and OTC products.
We have an Executive Membership which gives you 2 percent back. The annual check covers the cost of the membership and we get another hundred bucks in our pocket.
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My uk summary:
Big & overly busy, crowded even despite size, always long queues at the tills, buy in bulk so need storage.Easy parking.
Good for food generally.
Some interesting products. Cheaper even after membership fees, yet I always come out having spent £100-300. So it encourages spending.
Very little seating in the cafe/takeaway, they want you to pay and go.I really dislike it, worst shopping experience in the UK
My uk summary:
Big & overly busy, crowded even despite size, always long queues at the tills, buy in bulk so need storage.Easy parking.
Good for food generally.
Some interesting products. Cheaper even after membership fees, yet I always come out having spent £100-300. So it encourages spending.
Very little seating in the cafe/takeaway, they want you to pay and go.I really dislike it, worst shopping experience in the UK
Our warehouse is one of the smallest in the Chicago area and doesn't tend to attract as many people as a lot of the others do. Our store on a weekend isn't as busy as the others are on a weekday. A few months ago Costco initiated Executive Member hours; we can get in an hour before the warehouse opens to Gold Star members. I'm there at 9 and out by 9:30 (I do self-checkout and I'm wicked fast!).
We don't get stuff at the food court (portions too big, nutrition is lousy), so not an issue for us.
We've known some of the employees since this location opened 20-some years ago. Friendly folks.
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Oh yea...big draw is the optical department. I know some folks do online prescription glasses but I like the in-store model better. Decent glasses at a fair price.
And toilet paper and paper towels. Laundry detergent. Kitchen stuff like aluminum foil, parchment paper, Ziploc bags. Vinegar, which we use as fabric softener and for household cleaning chores.
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We buy wine there, but that too is reducing. I seldom buy meat there as their prices are not great any longer and whoever is butchering their stuff is pretty bad. Frozen shrimp, paper goods for sure, some supplements like collagen, etc. For gas we get a buck off from Kroger and Meijer points which beats Costco's prices. Inflation and tariffs have made it very difficult for them to still be the bargain they once were, plus the local groceries and got their number and are very competitive at smaller quantities.
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@wtg @mik
In London this is the trade off, of excellent optics & selection of booze, versus the crush of the unwashed hoards (there are queues to enter at 9.30).
Thank goodness for Waitrose, excellent coffee in a quiet cafe, but buy very little in there as it's pricey.I do like a Costco chicken bake. Gives me indigestion but
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@wtg @mik
In London this is the trade off, of excellent optics & selection of booze, versus the crush of the unwashed hoards (there are queues to enter at 9.30).
Thank goodness for Waitrose, excellent coffee in a quiet cafe, but buy very little in there as it's pricey.I do like a Costco chicken bake. Gives me indigestion but
the crush of the unwashed hoards
We go to a warehouse that is five minutes from our house, but there are a couple of others within 15 minutes or so that we go to occasionally because they do carry different products than our store does. Each warehouse has its own personality.
The one in the town where rich people live is our least favorite. The members and the employees all seem to have the same sour attitude and it's pretty unpleasant to shop there. People fight over parking spaces and the employees look haggard and are rude to customers.
There's another one in a middle class suburb where there are a lot of Indians and Pakistanis, and where we can get a wider variety of the food products from those countries. It's insanely busy but everyone is really nice.
The third one is in an area that is multi-ethnic, with lots of Southeast Asians and that is near a suburb that has a large Jewish population. They have the best selection of foods I'm not likely to see anywhere else. The place is crazy busy, too, and has the feeling of a market. But in a fun way.
Bottom line: The rich people are entitled snobs and make everyone else miserable.
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They have some pretty cool products in the UK. The deli platters look way more interesting than ours.
https://services.costco.co.uk/deli/
And look at this Hot Buy!
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I guess the variation of each costco is likely here too.
The London one always seems to have lots of small cafe and shop owners buying (eg.) vast amounts of bottled water and coke cans and paying hundreds of pounds, in cash. They then charge double/triple in their cafe.
And gallons of cooking oil, large plastic bottles for frying the all day English breakfast.I must try the Costco close to us now, near Newcastle, and compare.
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the crush of the unwashed hoards
We go to a warehouse that is five minutes from our house, but there are a couple of others within 15 minutes or so that we go to occasionally because they do carry different products than our store does. Each warehouse has its own personality.
The one in the town where rich people live is our least favorite. The members and the employees all seem to have the same sour attitude and it's pretty unpleasant to shop there. People fight over parking spaces and the employees look haggard and are rude to customers.
There's another one in a middle class suburb where there are a lot of Indians and Pakistanis, and where we can get a wider variety of the food products from those countries. It's insanely busy but everyone is really nice.
The third one is in an area that is multi-ethnic, with lots of Southeast Asians and that is near a suburb that has a large Jewish population. They have the best selection of foods I'm not likely to see anywhere else. The place is crazy busy, too, and has the feeling of a market. But in a fun way.
Bottom line: The rich people are entitled snobs and make everyone else miserable.
the crush of the unwashed hoards
We go to a warehouse that is five minutes from our house, but there are a couple of others within 15 minutes or so that we go to occasionally because they do carry different products than our store does. Each warehouse has its own personality.
The one in the town where rich people live is our least favorite. The members and the employees all seem to have the same sour attitude and it's pretty unpleasant to shop there. People fight over parking spaces and the employees look haggard and are rude to customers.
There's another one in a middle class suburb where there are a lot of Indians and Pakistanis, and where we can get a wider variety of the food products from those countries. It's insanely busy but everyone is really nice.
The third one is in an area that is multi-ethnic, with lots of Southeast Asians and that is near a suburb that has a large Jewish population. They have the best selection of foods I'm not likely to see anywhere else. The place is crazy busy, too, and has the feeling of a market. But in a fun way.
Bottom line: The rich people are entitled snobs and make everyone else miserable.
That's an understatement.
This is interesting.
Every Costco here has the same inventory.
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I love Costco. I buy a lot of the same stuff that @wtg does.
On my usual list:
Eyeglasses when I need them! So much cheaper than the optician at eye doc office
Eggs (free range) 18 count
cheap wine for Mr. AM (he doesn’t care)
Kirkland prosecco
Nicer bubbly (currently Brut Cattin)
TP
Frozen shrimp, salmon burgers
Frozen blueberries
Quinoa
Olives (stuffed with jalapeno and garlic, yum)
Tuna
Sardines
Sneakers (Skechers $30)
Sometimes prepared food that I can keep in the freezer for when I don’t feel like cooking
Clothes
GasolineAnyway, I like it. I’m not making friends there, though. Oh! My niece works there, too.
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Costco is fine, if you were already planning to buy a carp ton of something. Quirt is our household's Costco-lover, but I can totally see the value for things like toilet paper that aren't perishable and that you're definitely going to use, presuming you have space to store them in Costco quantities.
There's always the danger of buying a carp ton of something you think you'll use, but you don't. (This is why we'll be taking expired over-the-counter meds for the rest of our natural lives.) Since I'm more of a just-in-time shopper, I pay more per item, but I waste less. It's really hard to do the math on that kind of thing.
I particularly dislike buying a carp ton of something that turns out to be disappointing. I got a bag of green beans last week that were beautiful--emerald green and no strings to speak of--but they literally tasted like nothing. I'd liken them to solid green water. Now there's a container of the leftovers in the refrigerator making me feel guilty, because I do not want to eat them. On the same trip, I got a box of cherry tomatoes. They're delicious and they stayed fresh forever. You just can't know until you get the stuff home and taste it. This is always true, but the waste stings when you've bought a lot of something and it's not good.
As for the original post, I cannot fathom Costco as a third place or as any kind of pleasant social experience. I routinely leave the place hoping I never again have to see another human being.
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