premium wholesale warehouse (Costco)

Member Name: joannan

Product:	Costco
Date:	15/06/09 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great product range with good quality and honest prices

Disadvantages: sometimes bulker than I need

Costco is a membership only wholesaler. In order to obtain an account you need to be self employed, vat registered company owner etc. They offer 2 kinds of membership......Trade or Inividual. Individual membership is open to certain emplyees, ie finanacial directors etc....it does restrict access to the store at certain times, you are not able to shop before noon Monday to Friday. Can go at any time at the weekends.

*****What is Costco******

Costco is a huge Warehouse style cash and carry wholesaler and bulk seller.


****Membership*****


Annual membership costs £34.00, should I say, thats what my uncle pays, and you can have additional card and members on the same account. He owns a Car hire firm and Garage, so is elligable, and my husband and I are additional card members on his account. Each card costs £18.00 and needs to be displayed upon every visit, and swipped when paying.

*****What do they sell******

Costco is Amercan, and the product range is very varied, and does also contain many American item, and Amercan influenced item (Big bottles of Hershy Sauce for instance). The product range is vast. You walk in and are greeted by a huge array of Electical products, TV's, PC's, MP3 players and accesories and many more.

It has a full optical centre selling glasses and contact lenses.

A photo centre with digital booths, offering canvas prints, enlargments etc.

A large array of kitchenalia, cooking equipment, plates kettles and similar.

A great range of books, fictional and non fiction, childrens books and cook books. DVD's, both current ish and old. Fitness equipment, toys and bikes. Along with seasonal items, tents and outdoor items, BBQs and garden furniture in the Summer months, and Tin Soldiers (yes really) massive Santa's, blankets and quilts, Christmas cards, gifts etc in the Winter months.

Food and Drink. Many of the items are sold in larger quantities. For instance, baked goods, Muffins are sold in trays of 20, as are cakes. Bagels are sold in packs of 12. So great for parties and large families. Or indeed businesses.
The bakery is wonderful, a lovely array of cakes, bread, bagels. They do massive celebration cakes that feed 60 and can be decorated and customised, and cost £12.99....brilliant! Big Choc fudge cakes, carrot cakes and other lovly items that cost between £6-13 depending on which ones you go for.
The meat and fish is also great, although this is really where the bulk buying comes into its own. I get a whole side of skinless, boneless fresh salmon, average price is £10, this splits into appox 16 portions that I cut up and freeze. This is often on special. They also stock other types of fish, both fresh and frozen.....mainly whole or filleted whole fish. Chicken is sold in various states, whole, breast and halal. I cannot even begin to list the meat....pretty much all standard meats, in different cuts and forms. Fillet beef to Angus mince, Pork joints to legs of lamb, the list is vast. The quality in my opinion is outstanding. Not quality specialist butcher oustanding I must point out, but if comparing to a supermarket for instance, it is wonderful.
They also sell, frozen foods, tinned foods, cleaning and laundry products, pet foods, clothes....I got my daughter some Lelli Kelli shoes that are usually £50 and currently instore at £29.00.
The booze section is great, from standard beers and wines, to a fine wine section, they even had a £400 bottle of limited edition Bollinger 007 collectable gifts. They also sell tabacco, but I can't comment on that as have never been in the scary cage they keep it in, as I think you need a seperate license to enter...plus non of us smoke!

Overall, a wonderful shopping experience. Chock full of interesting and very dull things. It can be much much cheaper than supermarkets, but check every price of what I buy and often is cheaper to stock up on special offer items in standard shops.

Costco publish a discount 'passport' which list special offers at certain times. These can be outstanding. Some items half price, others such as meat and fish offered at severel £'s off the kilo price.

They only take cash or debt cards, which can be a pain.....

Then when finished shopping, there is a cafe. They sell jacket spuds for about £1.20, a drink and a massive hotdog for £1.40, and pizza slices (can't remember the price, but I always think its great value) We feed the 4 of us to the brink for about a fiver.....great!!!!

I am a big fan of Costco, and if you are able to get a card, I would wonder around like I do for hours on end shopping and tasting new products (yes they have tasters as well!!!!)
But know your regular items prices and stock up with specials.

I will have definatly missed loads of the product range as it is vast.....but enjoy.

Summary: An great wholesaler with a great range and I love to spend hours milling around