Costco any good?

Soldato
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Just to add they don't accept credit cards - always got me when paying and having to use my debit card (which I run lean as transfer to other accounts)

That's a good point - especially if you make use of cashback offers on certain cards or anything.

The only exception to the credit card rule is if you sign up to and use their Amex card.
 
Soldato
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That's a good point - especially if you make use of cashback offers on certain cards or anything.

The only exception to the credit card rule is if you sign up to and use their Amex card.

I have used an AMEX that is not theirs before so I think it is any AMEX - about 3 years ago. Which was good because I got all the bonus I get with my AMEX.
 
Soldato
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Cakes and meat are good value, although check the prices against Sainsbury's etc while your there. One time I was going to buy a big tray of chicken only to realise Sainsbury's had it on offer and was cheaper.

I found that most things actually don't work out much cheaper than the supermarkets, but other things do. bio oil for instance, a very expensive product, worked out about a tenner cheaper, razorblades can sometimes be a few quid cheaper but don't go in expecting it to be a bargain warehouse. Its still a place you have to experience though, I love browsing there :D
 
Soldato
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you can use any american express btw

It is a good shop but I find that is a place that I end up over spending on items I don't really need.
 
Soldato
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Surrey
Costco is good for:

-half decent, reasonably priced meat packs
-Pre-prepared party food packs like sandwiches/dessert trays
-Cheap huge bottles of condiments/marinates
-Really cheap but large blocks of bog standard cheddar
-Disposable gloves (latex and heavy duty crafting/garden gloves)
-Bulk household goods like cleaning stuff

Everything else can be had off the internet easily for more or less the same including postage.
 
Soldato
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Newcastle
Costco is good for:

-half decent, reasonably priced meat packs
-Pre-prepared party food packs like sandwiches/dessert trays
-Cheap huge bottles of condiments/marinates
-Really cheap but large blocks of bog standard cheddar
-Disposable gloves (latex and heavy duty crafting/garden gloves)
-Bulk household goods like cleaning stuff

Everything else can be had off the internet easily for more or less the same including postage.

Their tyre prices are brilliant too, they were selling Michelin PS4s in my size for around £8-10 less per tyre than anywhere else online before factoring in postage. I can't wait until they finish the fuel station construction, from what I've read online their fuel prices are ridiculously cheap!
 
Associate
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20 Nov 2011
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Been a member for years, go once a month to stock up on certain drinks and food, they have some decent deals every month but not all their stuff is cheaper than the supermarkets, also false economy if you don't use it all for items with shorter dates. It is worth it for us.
 
Caporegime
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18 Oct 2002
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32,615
Yes, shop there ever couple of weeks for most of my groceries. The savings on gas/petrol here are pretty significant. eat quality fr exceeds supermarkets. Only issue is I can't leave the place without dropping $500
 
Caporegime
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I always thought costco was meant to offer good prices. The benchmark I use for pricing is £6/kg for chicken breasts, on their website costco have them listed as £18/kg. Yes they are herb fed, but triple the price?
Costco offers good prices for quality products. If you want cheap garbage there are cheaper places.
 
Associate
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UK
It is worth is just to use their petrol station.

This. We go once a month to fill up and pop into the store at the same time which usually ends up in a spend of £200 on stuff we didn't realise we needed. ;) There's a reason it often referred to as the '£100 shop'.

We routinely get our cat litter, loo roll, kitchen roll, dishwasher tablets, washing liquid, fabric conditioner, moist wipes, from there. I wait for offers on other stuff, then buy in bulk, e.g. Oral-B Pro-Expert toothpaste, Sure Maximum Protection deodorant.

Luxuries include cookies, shortbread, ale/cider. Meet when it's on offer - it's more expensive, but higher quality than most other places.

It's a lot easier to get the kids to go now they do samples in-store. :)

I bought my TV from there too. It was on offer and with their legendary service and 5 year warranty it was a very good package.

They suckered me into their premium membership a couple of years ago, so I get 2% cashback. So far, I've made the difference back in cashback each year, but as soon as I don't I'll drop back to the basic.

I'd say it was worth it on the whole, but as others have said do be careful as their prices aren't always great. Once I bought a wireless BT speaker on impulse, as a quick google at the time suggested it was a good discount, but after getting home and trying it out it was rubbish - I took it back and got a full refund, no quibbles. I did a similar thing with a back massager - it was good, but more research when I got home revealed it was overpriced - so I took it back.

Oh and I pay with my credit card. Non-Costco Amex. But I'm sure they accept Visa and MasterCard too. :S
 
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Associate
Joined
20 Jan 2013
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107
We are Costco members, and whilst we are disappointed that their prices have been slowly creeping up over the last year or so, it's still very good.

We buy..

The packs of chicken (about £1 per fillet, but they are the best fillets I've had - don't shrink a bit when you cook them, there's no water added)
Mince - very good quality flavourful mince, but if it gets much more expensive we'll probably leave it (I think it's about £18-£20 for a pack we divide into 6 and freeze - it's about the same as the 5% fat mince from Lidl now)
Cheese - a huge ass block of cheese for about 4 quid, bargain
Bacon - 6 packs of smoked bacon for about 6 quid
Washing powder - you can get a huge tub of Kirkland washing up powder for about £13, and there's hundres of washes in it I'm sure. Lasts a year easy
Dishwasher tabs
Tuna - 8 pack of John West for about 5-6 quid i think it is
Mr Muscle drain unblocker stuff, much cheaper than the shops
Lemon drizzle cake - the BOMB
Petrol is cheap as ****
They're pretty good for Prosecco and wine if you stick to their own brand, it's pretty good stuff.

Do this every couple months then just need little top ups from the shops, veg and stuff.

Things used to be a fair bit cheaper than they are now, and I'm unimpressed! If the trend continues we'll just do our shops from the supermarket again. What's good about it though is because you're sectioning stuff off into Ziploc bags and freezing, it saves room in the freezer compared to like trying to get 6 packs of mince, 10 packs of chicken etc in there!
 
Associate
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2,182
I find items usually fall into one of three categories:

Cheaper than the supermarkets items sure as cleaning products, toilet rolls, tinned foods, cereals etc.

The same price as the supermarkets. Chicken breasts per kg work out about the same price but the quality is definitely better in Costco

More expensive than the supermarkets..... alcohol!!!

I'm happy with categories one and two. Three I avoid and pick the items up during the supermarket shop.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Jan 2013
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107
I find items usually fall into one of three categories:

Cheaper than the supermarkets items sure as cleaning products, toilet rolls, tinned foods, cereals etc.

The same price as the supermarkets. Chicken breasts per kg work out about the same price but the quality is definitely better in Costco

More expensive than the supermarkets..... alcohol!!!

I'm happy with categories one and two. Three I avoid and pick the items up during the supermarket shop.
You see, alcohol is a weird one. Beer and whiskey is typically the same as the shops, but wine is a bit cheaper. they only seem to sell high quality wines starting £8+ a bottle onwards, typically £20+. Now that's more than I will typically pay for a wine unless it's a special accy, but if you make a note of the name of the wine and try and find it cheaper elsewhere, I bet you won't be able to. It's not a great deal cheaper like, but for example there's one they sell called Cover Drive by Jim Barry, a really nice Australian red, they sell it for about £8.50, and it's a tenner in any other shop you're lucky enough to find it in.

Kind of by the by like as I won't pay that for wine. £3.50 Cotes du rhone from Lidl will us me fine over a spag bol!
 
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