Costco vs BJ's

Clem72

Well-Known Member
Personally, I used to really like Price Club before they joined with Costco. They would always have a massive computer software/hardware section out front that had crazy deals. Print Shop Pro for $5! A Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16, with IDE port for a CD-ROM attachment for $39!!!!
 

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
Any $$ you might save @ Costco, you spend at least a part of, in gas.

I don't shop at Costco to save $. I shop at Costco because they have better quality meats, seafood, produce, baked goods, honestly most if not all their products are better than BJ's or Sams. I don't mind taking the trip once or twice a month. Plus the amount of samples they give, especially on the weekends is obscene compared to Bj's or Sams. A lot of times I plan my trips to coincide w/ lunch and we literally just eat samples for lunch :lol: They aren't hitler w/ the samples either. The sample gals are constantly saying "help yourself, its the perk of your membership" my kids take full advantage of that when we pass by their bakery!
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
There is no cost savings to driving 80 plus miles to shop.
Whatever I might save (regardless of the store) vice Giant, is blown in gas and vehicle wear and tear.

BJ's is local, so BJ's it is.
 
Why drive at all? All of these place have websites and shipping to home. Some items are no-cost shipping.

And there is a new vendor out there, I think it's called Boxes, which gives you club prices without being in a club and shipping to home. Just saved $45 in club costs.

It's called Boxed. Free shipping.
https://www.boxed.com/
 
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libertytyranny

Dream Stealer
I don't shop at Costco to save $. I shop at Costco because they have better quality meats, seafood, produce, baked goods, honestly most if not all their products are better than BJ's or Sams. I don't mind taking the trip once or twice a month. Plus the amount of samples they give, especially on the weekends is obscene compared to Bj's or Sams. A lot of times I plan my trips to coincide w/ lunch and we literally just eat samples for lunch :lol: They aren't hitler w/ the samples either. The sample gals are constantly saying "help yourself, its the perk of your membership" my kids take full advantage of that when we pass by their bakery!

We do the same. We plan our trips so we only have to go once or twice a month. We get our dog food there and make a significant saving on that alone. Their produce is awesome, the meat is a tad expensive but is always good quality and not too bad if you catch a sale. They have a lot more to offer than BJs...we buy clothes there sometimes when they have a decent deal and we get all kinds of other neat stuff. Just paid 19 bucks for some really attractive (and large) produce baskets, and we got our entry way bench there for cheap and its solid. The costco brand stuff is great quality (the hot dogs btw are amazing as is a good deal of their prepared stuff). My daughter's play house is fully made of cedar and was around $250 there. The drive sucks, but we combine it with other things and I think its totally worthwile.

BJs is expensive, small and at any given day there are like 3 samples. At costco you can have a full meal in samples while you shop and have a ton of affordably priced stuff to choose from. No contest.
 

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
We do the same. We plan our trips so we only have to go once or twice a month. We get our dog food there and make a significant saving on that alone. Their produce is awesome, the meat is a tad expensive but is always good quality and not too bad if you catch a sale. They have a lot more to offer than BJs...we buy clothes there sometimes when they have a decent deal and we get all kinds of other neat stuff. Just paid 19 bucks for some really attractive (and large) produce baskets, and we got our entry way bench there for cheap and its solid. The costco brand stuff is great quality (the hot dogs btw are amazing as is a good deal of their prepared stuff). My daughter's play house is fully made of cedar and was around $250 there. The drive sucks, but we combine it with other things and I think its totally worthwile.

BJs is expensive, small and at any given day there are like 3 samples. At costco you can have a full meal in samples while you shop and have a ton of affordably priced stuff to choose from. No contest.

Exactly! We got our entire families winter coats & gloves at Costco for $150. (4 adult jackets 2 kids) These are super nice quality jackets that are actually two in one type deals. Gorgeous Christmas dresses you'd easily pay $50+ at Kohls or Macy's, Costco sells them for $15-20. Same w/ Easter dresses! Home linens are fantastic. Such nice quality! All of my bedding, blankets, towels, etc.. are from Costco. Same w/ most of our furniture.

Also they will literally return anything! They are so customer satisfaction oriented its amazing & refreshing to not feel like your being given the third degree if you need to return or exchange something. I was in there one day and someone had this mattress that you could tell was years old... the customer said it was starting to sink in areas. Costco refunded them their money no questions asked.

Its ALWAYS clean and bright in Costco. For some reason BJ's is always so dark and dirty. 90% of the time their produce is half rotten or over ripe.

The only negative I can think of is I always spend more $ than I initially budget for because we try the samples and end up getting them. I LOVE it when they have vendors there like the pot sticker peeps :yum:
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
Why drive at all? All of these place have websites and shipping to home. Some items are no-cost shipping.

And there is a new vendor out there, I think it's called Boxes, which gives you club prices without being in a club and shipping to home. Just saved $45 in club costs.

It's called Boxed. Free shipping.
https://www.boxed.com/

There are lots of options for home delivery at a savings - if you want bulk.
Many years ago I was told by the butcher shop if I was going to buy meat to freeze it better if we let them flash freeze it so the juices stayed in the meat.
There are places you can get good quality meats, flash frozen and vacuum sealed for less than store bought product - short of investing in half a cow.
 

SoMdDude

New Member
BJs

Because the costco here (waldorf) which is in brandywine, is in a CF of a area and I avoid brandywine because of the traffic, eff that Ill stick with BJs because its easy to get in and out of!
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Why drive at all? All of these place have websites and shipping to home. Some items are no-cost shipping.

And there is a new vendor out there, I think it's called Boxes, which gives you club prices without being in a club and shipping to home. Just saved $45 in club costs.

It's called Boxed. Free shipping.
https://www.boxed.com/

They're making it tough to look at their site, demanding a sign up. Not sure that's a good idea.
 

BadGirl

I am so very blessed
They're making it tough to look at their site, demanding a sign up. Not sure that's a good idea.

I rarely ever plug in my real contact info to those questionnaires. I make up a name, enter in false phone numbers, and create bogus email addressses all of the time. Of course, if I end up ordering something, I enter in correct data.

But the person who really has the email address of "blahblahblah1963" must truly hate me.
 
They're making it tough to look at their site, demanding a sign up. Not sure that's a good idea.

Yeah, probably not the best example. But there are others out there.

Just give a false email name like blahblahblah1963 or something. :lol: That was good, BG....
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Yeah, probably not the best example. But there are others out there.

Just give a false email name like blahblahblah1963 or something. :lol: That was good, BG....

That doesn't address my first world problem of the inconvenience of taking 2 minutes of MY time to do even that. :drama:
 
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