Costco worth it?

MysteryMe

I've been a member for years. I like going to Costco as I can buy stuff I don't see everywhere else and everything in the warehouse is top drawer, no poor quality rubbish. It's not somewhere you go for a budget shop, stick to your Aldi and Lidl for that. The Costco own brand Kirkland stuff is high quality, everything I've bought has been excellent.  Meat is good quality but not particularly cheap, more affordable when it's on offer.  I don't buy fruit and veg as it does seem really expensive.  Petrol and food court are cheap. With the other departments you can pick up real bargains when they have the special offers, IT and electrical in particular. They also have quite a good range of gardening items in season.  I bought a beautiful Italian made statue, looks like marble but white stone, to place by my pond which was well under £100 and would have been at least double that in a garden centre. I think the glasses / contact lenses are meant to be good value but I don't wear glasses so may be wrong. As long as you are not travelling long distances to get to one, for £18 you only need a few trips to get the cost back especially if you use the food court and fill up the car.

MrsStepford

Individual online membership cost me £15, in April. Saved £40 on Amazon Prime price for a tower fan. Cheapest organic walnuts in UK as well. 

ps124

jon81uk said:

ps124 said:

Thanks all. My wife had a look at some of their prices for goods like toilet rolls, washing powder, kitchen rolls etc. We were both expecting this to be available in bulky packs but at a cheaper price to supermarkets. She says Aldi/Lidl's own brands were significantly cheaper and the quality isn't bad. That was a shame to hear...debating now.

Did you look at the online price or the in-warehouse price? They are completely different. Costco charge a premium for online shopping, picking it yourself on store is cheaper. 

To get a better idea of the warehouse pricing take a look at the offers https://www.costco.co.uk/offers

but if you prefer Aldi own then Costco likely won’t work out better for you for groceries.

Hi Jon - it was the online price...sorry didn't strike me that the warehouse (instore) price would be cheaper?

Thanks all...interesting reading all the feedback. I think I'm going to get the £18 for a year and see how it goes. I really want one of their hot buys...can't see it cheaper anywhere else so will just bite the bullet and go for it.

pavlovs_dog

I don't know if they have changed their policy since the start of the pandemic, but my local store used to offer a visitor pass so you could go in and have a look around if you were considering membership.  It may be worth giving your local store a ring to see if they do similar?

I feel I get good value from my membership.  The quality of the produce is consistently excellent and the customer service instore is great.  I've been a member for 8+ years, and can only recall one increase to the membership fee in all that time.  

Whether membership is worth it for you very much depends on the items you buy.  If you buy a lot of branded food, you can easily make savings VS normal supermarket prices.  Many baking items and spices are far cheaper at costco than what I would pay for comparable products in any supermarket for example.  Another consideration is whether you have enough space to store the bulk purchases.

Tippytoes

I've been a Costco member for years and find it worth the fee.  As with any retailer, you have to be selective in order to save money.  Fruit and veg is definitely more expensive.  The fresh meat is, in my opinion, worth paying a little extra for as it is top notch grade.  There is a lot of money to be saved when buying major products such as flooring, tyres and so on, especially if they happen to be on offer.  They also have end-of-range deals (not clearly advertised, except for the yellow highlighter on the display) and the savings can be massive.  Bear in mind that a lot of what they sell is imported from America, so you won't find them on the High Street.  You can also use your card in the USA.