It won't costco you much (Costco)

Member Name: LisaW82

Product:	Costco
Date:	28/04/09 (213 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap in bulk and lots of variety

Disadvantages: Not available to everyone

Part of my husband's job requires him to use Costco through work and for this reason I can use it to as a family member. Costco is for businesses only and operated in all the major cities in the UK. It is a wholesale company where you buy in bulk with the normal purpose of selling on individually at a profit. However, you can, as we do, just use it as a place for getting products in for yourself, in bulk at rock bottom prices.

The one thing to watch when shopping at Costco is the VAT which you have to pay upon purchasing anything. This is not a problem generally as it clearly shows you on the well positioned pricing notices that there is VAT to be added to the product in question and it tells you the full purchase price. That being said, I still fall into the trap of thinking "wow, that is really cheap" and then seeing the VAT included price and downgrading that to "wow, that is still cheap".

Just about anything you can imagine can be purchased at Costco from the obvious like sweets, crisps and pop, right through to big Plasma TVs, huge (and I mean huge) inflatable swimming pools and even things like jet propelled canoes. There is everything here that you find in the largest of supermarkets including opticians and cafe areas. The food is really nice and cheap too. Infact, the prices for most things are more than reasonable, even with the items that can't be bought in bulk. By these I mean DVDs and books etc...

You need to be aware of the fact that Costco is a membership only outlet before you go and the sign up process takes about 15 minutes, should you qualify. You will need to show this card on future entry to the venue and when paying for your goods. Payment can only be made by cash, cheque or debit card. There are strictly no credit cards allowed here.

Dotted around the place are lots of little testing areas where the staff will let you try things for free with a view to trying to get you to buy some. this worked well for them when tempting me with some free cheese. Cheese is my achilles heal and once I had tried it, I simply couldnt resist. It should be said though that the fresh and frozen sections in Costco offer superb value if used in bulk and I got a huge block of Cheddar that upon working it out saved me around £6 on the same amount at my local Tesco.

If you have a business or have any other means of qualification for membership, I urge you to join Costco and reap the rewards of the huge bargains on offer there.

Summary: The best warehouse of its kind