Great ‘What to Buy at Costco & Makro’ Hunt

Pascalou

Anything about tyres savings? Michelin one they sell are great!

BikerEd

Pascalou wrote: »

Anything about tyres savings? Michelin one they sell are great!

No. There was a 20% voucher sent out to selected customers but that expired on Feb 14th.

harryhound

What is more when Costco says "jump" Michelin says "how high".
If you have something exotic and need a special tyre from Michelin: Costco can probably get it delivered faster than your ordinary tyre depot - might even be same day delivery as Cosco has longer opening hours..
(A bit like a farmer supplying Tesco)

As these days there should be matched tyres on a given axle (in most cases) buying a brand where replacements are nearly always available is not as much more expensive as it seems initially..

mum26

Can anybody tell me if there are any cat litter offers on at the mo? Thanks

Skint_Catt

mum26 wrote: »

Can anybody tell me if there are any cat litter offers on at the mo? Thanks

Nothing in the current voucher book, sorry.

mirko

I've just joined up with Costco so am interested to see whether it's going to be "worth it" or not. I hope others find these "stats" useful. Obviously prices may change as time goes on, and for all I know the prices are different in each store. I shopped at Reading and the date was 21/2/2010

As they don't publish prices online or even if you ring up I thought I'd whack this stuff in here. What I also did was take a few photos of price tags with my phone as I went around so I could check the prices when I got home!

I am comparing the prices at Costco with Sainsbury's - which is the store which we normally shop at - it's closest!
First number is price in Costco, second is price in Sainsbury.

12 x tins tomatoes
Costco: £3.29
Sainsbury: £4.20
Saving: £0.91

Grapes 1.8kg
Costco: £4.49
Sainsbury: £4.48 (ON OFFER AT THE MOMENT!!!)
Saving: -£0.01

Soy Sauce 1.9L
Costco: £4.49
Sainsbury: £11.21
Saving: £6.72

Bay Leaves 27g
Costco: £1.39
Sainsbury: £3.96
Saving: £2.57

Lemon Juice 2L (as in JIF Lemon Juice sorta thing)
Costco: £2.69
Sainsbury: £4.18
Saving: £1.49

Crisp & Dry 3L
Costco: £3.99
Sainsbury: £3.90 (ON OFFER AT THE MOMENT!)
Saving: -£0.09

Weetabix 96
Costco: £4.99
Sainsbury: £6.72 (that is buying a Weetabix 72 pack, per biscuit price)
Saving: £1.73
(Should be noted that Sainsbury's own weetabix is cheaper than buying "brand" Weetabix at Costco)

Princes Orange Juice x 12
Costco: £4.95
Sainsbury: £14.48
Saving £9.53

UHT MILK 6L
Costco: £2.99 ("branded product" - can't remember which)
Sainsbury: £2.94 (BASICS RANGE)
Saving: -£0.05

I bought the Kirkland detergent that claims to be 400 washes (for £11.55), which probably makes it vastly cheaper than any other brand out there.

Overall, excluding the Kirkland soap powder in that one trip we've saved £22.80. However there are a few things that should be noted as "negatives"

1. Costco generally sell "branded" stuff this means that if you shopped around for the basics range in other supermarkets and picked up offers when available, it'd sometimes be cheaper that way - but not that much cheaper from what I've seen so far.
2. You are buying in bulk. I have more soy sauce than I will probably ever need - I'm hoping it lasts, I can't see any reason why not. I love Chinese food so I get through a lot of the stuff. (Same with bay leaves). It may take a long time to feel any benefit from having bought in bulk.

And the positives
1. I love buying in bulk, it means fewer trips to the supermarket to buy a "big shop" and a lot less stress as we have a young, impatient boy to lug around with us too.,
2. I went when it was remarkably busy, however the aisles are so wide you never feel cramped or in anyone's way.
3. The meat seemed cheap and there's a fab range of all sorts of stuff - more than a supermarket - haven't bought any yet.

I went to Reading Costco, so other people's experiences may vary. Overall I think it's going to be worth it!

mardatha

If you go at ten am it's empty. At least the Edinburgh one is.
The meat is superb, I won't get supermarket meat now. We love the big packs of mince, beef & lamb mince. Chicken portions are good as well, but not mad on the bacon . Cheese is good value in big lumps.
Vinegar is cheap in big containers, forget how much it holds, maybe 5lt and its only £3 ish. (Can you tell I don't pay attention ?)
Red lentils are a good buy, big bags for around £3.
But I agree it doesn't compete with Sainsburys Basics so we get some in Costco and then go over the road to S.

lolly5648

mardatha wrote: »

If you go at ten am it's empty. At least the Edinburgh one is.

You can only go at 10.00 if you are a trade member, members of the public can't get in until 12.00, in England that is.

mirko

lolly5648 wrote: »

You can only go at 10.00 if you are a trade member, members of the public can't get in until 12.00, in England that is.

My wife and I signed up early on a Monday and walked in, it was only when we got home we realised that we shouldn't have been in there that early as we aren't trade members.

I suspect they aren't too strict about this rule, after all I doubt they want to turn custom away.

Katyag

lolly5648 wrote: »

You can only go at 10.00 if you are a trade member, members of the public can't get in until 12.00, in England that is.

Sign says same in Scotland but I dont know how much the inforce it. Both DH and I have been in the Aberdeen one before 10am, on seperate occasions and no one has said anything.