Great ‘What to Buy at Costco & Makro’ Hunt

saryoung

I have been a member for the last 9 years. I always stop for lunch Jacket potato cheese and coleslaw £1.25 soda (coke etc) 60p refillable but a large cup to start with, a few people just get one cup 2 or 3 straws for the kids.
Meat and fish is excellent quality, if steaks are too thick (usually very thick) the butchers will cut them and repackage them for you. I dont think they sell off things cheaply at the end of the day so no good for looking for short dated products.
customer service is excellent, sometimes there is an extra person helping to unload your trolly,I have bought an iron and returned it as it blew up after 2 years, got a full refund without a receipt. Also returned hoover, gift pack that I decided I didnt need, I have seen sone garden tools returned in october still cover in grass!! and xmas decs in Jan.Unlike other places costco do not resell their returns, so everything is good quality.
Glasses have been repaired free of charge (within 2 years of purchase)
Washing powder, dishwasher tablets, fabric conditioner are all good buys, I tend to go down the whole aisle to see what is best value as prices change and on the price card there is a cost per wash figure.
I bought a tumble dryer just before xmas that had a copoun for £50 off which made it cheaper than comet, and has a 6 year guarantee.
Brita filters are good value, best to wait till the booklet that comes out about sept/oct get at least 10% off the pack usually (have done for the past 6 years)
Birkenstocks and walking boots when they have them are good buys, the own brand trainers are less than £10 for leather ones.
If you are debating about the membership costs they are worth every penny, I am sure that the fees are also covered by the guarantee, when my Dad passed away I took in his card to be cancelled as an addition on my membership and got back the membership cost.

sixties_sandi

Any business can get membership at Makro and get cards in several names. Makro mail with offers is sent fortnightly.
Makro can be expensive so you need to be careful but is good for most electricals, particularly small stuff like irons.
Recently bought scales to weigh luggage and avoid overweight charges at airports for £4.99 + vat which I thought was cheap.
Can also be good for meat and fish.
Worth trying if you don't have too far to travel.

Anja

Makro are great if you can claim VAT back, otherwise it's best to scan their offer flyer that they send out fortnightly. The prices in the flyer are usually cheaper than the high street. Be aware that their non-offer prices are a lot more expensive. You also have to remember to add VAT to their prices!

pandapaws

I don't have time to read all the way through the thread, so someone may already have said it, but Makro are fairly good at letting you join if you've got any business - anyone who sells on Ebay, for example, is effectively running a business from home. I got membership with a few cheap Vistaprint business cards and the likes, plus personal ID - give your local store a ring, tell them what you do (online retailer is always good, and true for just about all of us), and ask what ID they need.

I luuuurrrrve Costco! Best deals I saw last week were cheap Igloo ice boxes (£30ish), and 5 pack Thomas The Tank Engine DVD sets (£10ish). Michel Thomas language packs also good value at £30-35ish. No use unless you need them though!

mallymal

TYRES... picked up a big nail in the sidewall of my Grand Scenic yesterday, and even after running with low pressure for a failry short time it was b****ggerd.

Cheapest price for budget brand at local tyre shop £95, but the bloke said it would only last 12 months. Quoted £175 for Michelin, so walked away.

Costco, Michelin Energi (exact match for rest of tyres) £99 fitted.

Great baragain... savings on just 1 tyre pay for three years membership!!!

Nergal

I registered with the forum espesially to tell you that the birthday cakes in Costco are full of hydrogenated vegetable oil, (trans fats) very dangerous, banned in other countries and soon to be banned here.

Nergal

Wilson ncode 5 tennis rackets £36.99 + vat at Costco a web search found them at £100.00ish what a bargain Jack Nicklaus Signiture golf clubs £160.00 + vat £200.00 elsewhere.

pads1966

citroennut wrote: »

My only complaint with Costco is that unlike Makro they don't send you a leaflet to let you know what bargains they have on offer. We are usually handed a leaflet when we arrive at Costco, though quite often some of the offers are already out of date. The last time we went, we didn't even get a leaflet.

Other than this we really enjoy shopping at Costco.

The Milton Keynes branch send out the saver booklets to our home address:T

seadee

Nergal wrote: »

I registered with the forum espesially to tell you that the birthday cakes in Costco are full of hydrogenated vegetable oil, (trans fats) very dangerous, banned in other countries and soon to be banned here.

Not that I have ever had any of their birthday cakes, however can you provide a link to the evidence for that fact?
I am sure many people will be interested
Many thanks

newmommyjen

I love the large bags of dried mango!
When ever we r in we always buy the crossiants and hot chicken wings