Happy - my thoughts on Costco here are mixed. For context, I'm a single guy, and my food shopping is mostly meat, fruit, vegetables and cheese. I don't buy much processed or pre packaged food. my usual grocery shopping would be 80% aldi (there is one 150m from my work), with a bit of supplementation from the farmers market, coles/woolies for items Aldi don't have, and when I forget something, the IGA near my house. The costco is a 25 min drive.
For the staples I buy, costco seemed a little cheaper (10% ish) than aldi, and with labelled brands. However, that's still $600 worth of staples to break even on the membership fee. The quality of fresh stuff seems very good. However, the quantities are always massive - this imposes a significant overhead in storage, and as a single guy, a significant risk that it will spoil before I get through it.
A large part of their offering focused on pre processed and pre packaged foods. These have limited appeal to me, but appear to be priced very agressivley. If you use a lot of this type of stuff, there will probably be a much higher appeal.
I've been a couple of times now with friends. I'm not going to bother getting a membership, and don't think its for me. Mainly because:
- The prices are a lihttle cheaper, but not that much
- Its a 15km drive away
- Each time I go, I come back with large volumes of stuff I didnt need. Due to the abundance, I overconsume these, and have had some things spoil.
- I'm just shopping for one
- I don't buy any of the pre processed stuff which appears to be their core offering
However, just because it isnt for me, doesnt mean its not for you. Maybe try to tag along with a friend and have a look?
- get too excited by it. However, that would probably be a different story if I lived closer