Hi ALl - Just wondering over the long run is Costco better for weekly grocery shopping.
Costco - Is It Really Cheap for Groceries or Just Good for One off Electronic Purchases. Your Thoughts
soyea on 14/03/2016 - 00:35
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Some super foods and health foods are actually really cheap in Costco. I forgot the prices but they are pretty much half the price of what you find in grocery stories like chia seeds, coconut oil, flax seeds, apple cider vinegar, frozen fruits and there are some more. Those are what I find are really good value, but in terms of weekly shopping I don't recommend unless you have a huge family?
I second that. Health foods like the ones mentioned are cheap.
Yep, lots of things aren't cheaper, but some things are definitely a fraction of the price, and more importantly, everything is decent quality.
Some Costco items are better quality than any premium supermarket brand, by miles, like the Kirkland baby wipes, Kirkland Maple Syrup, and the Tatua canned whipped cream (97% real NZ dairy cream that stays fresh for literally months in the fridge).
People in this thread seem to think Costco is trying to be an alternative to Coles and Woolies or something. That's not what it's for.
they trick you into buying bulk and you end up spending more.
Does CostCo still let you resign (eg, just before membership ends), & - soon thereafter - rejoin, so you effectively pay $0 to shop there…?
Yes you could get a refund on the last day of the membership, however if you rejoin them you will have to paid for the first year back and continue with your membership.
Since when? Where does it say so? :-/
That may apply for those wanting to keep some
warranties live for the "Life of the Membership"We have none, & are considering dropping 1 week,
rejoining the next.Many of the rules are not listing in their website even for price match, price different and unlimited warranty.
if you are one of paying $60 and dropping and rejoining again, i think it should be fine. However you need to waste sometime each time to go Costco to join and refund.
I don't think prices are lower than shopping carefully elsewhere. Some specials work, though.
Buying their Petrol always works, but we don't drive as much, now that we study by distance education, so this doesn't yield much value for us.
There was value in one brand of a Greek style yoghurt ( < $5.50 for 2 Kg ) & Lemon Juice (purchasing 2 bottles together), etc. Fruit sometimes falls to around supermarket pricing, but tends to look better at CostCo.
We enjoy sampling some of the foods on offer; some claim they get a complete meal when there are enough demo stand going. Can't tell you when that might be, as we sometimes see almost none.
Prunes are excellent quality, in ~1.4 Kg bags.
Frozen house branded blueberries are chewy, & both Coles' 500g for $4 (from Chile) AND ALDI's 500g for $3.29 (also from Chile, I think) are much softer. In fairness, CostCo refunds your $$ if you find their blueberries suck.
Some of CostCo's furniture fails to excite us, but we've been IKEA fans since a 5-year stay in SE.
CostCo's biggest failing, IMO, is the Lack of Respect the co. shows for members' time, ie, by failing to have goods in (even relatively) set locations. They care more for their fork drivers' costly time, than ours.
CostCo is happy for members to wander about, in search of moved items, in the hopes that they make unplanned purchases.
Those who buy in bulk may get some of that time back, but - until they put their stock locations online, in an app, their "put it where ever there's a hole" product placement policy - I won't be buying much there.L
In fact, we have been buying less & less at big, wasteful CostCo… especially since AlDI opened in SA.The obviously more Efficient German ALDI character is quite Refreshing to the wasteful American "upsizing" CostCo, IMO.
depends on what you are after.
I find that when its time to host parties the bulk buy works out to be cheaper for us then going to the big names, but than again the only supermarket in out area is woollies and things start to get expensive really quickly when there is no competition nearby.I don't go in there often but its always nice for a change every now and then.
We don't have a big family but we shop at Costco every two weeks. We have worked out what stuffs are cheaper at Costco and Aldi and when Coles is on sale. We do weekly groceries at Aldi and Coles and the rest at Costco every two weeks while fuelling up because the petrol is cheapest. The saving from the petrol itself already more than the membership fee.
We noticed that a lot of organic stuff at Costco is cheapest than elsewhere. Stuff we buy at Costco that are cheapest than elsewhere for example:
organic coconut oil
Australian virgin olive oil when Coles is not on 50% sale (anyway the 4/5 litre can is pretty cheap)
free-range eggs
Spanish garlic (slightly cheaper than Aldi but you have to buy half a kilo, we use a lot of garlic anyway)
laundry powder the same as when Coles is 50% sale and often Costco gives further discount
ready-made food not available elsewhere
a lot of frozen food when Coles is not on 50% salevegetables and fruits are cheaper at Aldi or sometimes the same price but we have to buy more at Costco. The only thing I notice cheaper at Costco is potato but I have to buy 2.5 kg instead of 1 kg like in Aldi… so if I need lots of potatoes I buy it at Costco.
There are still a lot more that I cannot list out here. As I said, I have done the price mapping. Many stuff are actually already priced as when Coles is on 20-30% discount.
There are often special products such as $15 CK sport bra, $20 CK, Van Heussen or Pierre Cardin men work shirt.. and many more.
Again, I noticed the pricing of Costco in different cities is not the same.
I think the generous replace or refund policy makes a difference especially for expensive items.
A number of basic items are either cheap and/or of superior quality eg free range eggs seem cheap for 18.
TBH only buy a few things there, but over the year think break even incl membership.
Haven't yet bought a new TV recently, but think would buy it there.91 Unleaded in Adelaide for the past week or so has been 89.7c - it's not just about the groceries, fuel savings are a big plus for me.
Do you need membership to buy petrol?
As there isn't petrol station in Auburn but I am interest to know.
Yes you need to swipe your membership card to access the pumps.
if you love American sweets its dirt cheap
there extra coupon sales make stuff cheaper, if not its cheaper at woollies and coles on sale
VERY few items that are available elsewhere will work out cheaper if you follow the bargains. I've been very disappointed thus far. In terms of groceries, the prices are generally in line or more expensive than what you get in catalogs from everywhere else. If you compare to full price items, then yes, they are cheaper… but what ozbargainer buys full price?
There are some bargains to be had in dry goods and electronics, but more often than not, not a massive saving. So if you don't regularly shop at Costco (and judiciously select only things that are genuine bargains) the $60 becomes very very very hard to justify.
Yes the returns policy is quite generous.
As a veteran of the American warehouse shopping experience, Costco AU is massive letdown. When I was in the US, practically every item on the floor was MARKEDLY cheaper than what I could get it for anywhere else. Full disclosure though, that was before the birth of the internet and hunting for deals on it. But it was still often better than most coupons I cut and collected. Plus the coupons were a &^%@^*(!@ load of work.
VERY few items that are available elsewhere will work out cheaper if you follow the bargains
Yes, but there's loads of great stuff not available anywhere else. All the Kirkland brand stuff I've tried is better quality than the brands at Coles Woolies will still as cheap or cheaper (sometimes much cheaper).
Agreed.
I suppose my takeaway with the whole experience is that deals can be had if you know what you're doing. I can't go into costco, blindly assuming that I'm getting a great bargain on everything.
When I went, I went thought and compared prices on my phone with woolies. Most prices (per unit) were somewhere between being the same, or up to 10% less than buying the biggest size that woolies offer. If you're not already buying the largest size of items for sale in woolies (perhaps because its inconvenient) perhaps consider doing that first, as the sizes you have to buy in costco quickly become a storage challenge for your freezer, fridge and pantry. Woolies catalogue items often were the same or even slightly cheaper than costco, but in the regular sizes that you love!
I got a refund on my membership after my first shop.
Some places, it's worth it just for the petrol (i.e. Canberra).
I do like Costco, some of the stuff they sell are more expensive compared to other places.
I think the hype is from people who do not shop around a lot though, Costco charges less than the full price that some places charge for certain.
That said, they do have cheaper products that are in my opinion equivalent in its quality, at least at my place.All in all, I think I'd stick with them for a long time (at least while I am in Canberra).
You just have to know your prices - Deli Ham in the fridge works out to be $11.23 p/kg this is generally cheaper
SpecialK is cheaper
the Croissants are way cheaper, Easter Buns are really cheap $8 for a whole tray.
I find many of the Book sets quite cheap.
I don't buy designer clothing so cant comment on that area.
Pet beds I found were a bit cheaper.
I found it very difficult to make Costco worth it.
You get forced into buying things in bulk, I end up with a lot more wasted food/money as things go off or I get sick of something.
You often can't find what you want so you have to go to Woolworths/Coles anyway.
They have a lot less healthy/specialty food.
They are not that much cheaper and often more expensive depending on what you are buying and if you get it during supermarket sales.
They do have some great products but the yearly fee makes it difficult to justify.
Goji berries are half price
That's all I buyHow cheap are their almonds?
Goji berries used to be half price? Now I think they are around 2/3 (Auburn) based on my experience at the start of the year.
I did do a nut price comparison two years ago don't have it now.
Their BBQ chickens at $8 are huge compared to Coles/Woolworths and were much cheaper until recently.
Book sets can be good as someone else has mentioned.
Costco are generally cheaper on brand names due to the volume discount (you have to buy more), but Coles/Woolworths are cheaper when they have weekly big discounts on selected brands, and Aldi's home brand equivalents can be much cheaper.
Unfortunately, Costco is too far away for me and also too inconvenient to get in and out. Where I live there are Coles and Woolworths and Aldi within 1-3kms and the nearest Coles I can run there and back from home in 15 mins.
1kg smoked salmon for $22 on special was a good deal at Costco. I can't prove it but I am convinced it triggered my father in law's gout after he ate a whole slab in 24 hours.
Pittas Brand Halloumi Cheese is about $11/kg cheaper than Woolies price and $3/kg cheaper than the el cheapo version Aldi sells.
For fruit and veg. its better value than Aldi simply because we stopped buying Aldi Meat and fruit and veg. because a lot of Aldi's fruit tastes like it was grown in a lab. Grapes, apples,avocado, cucumbers taste like raw potatoes. Aldi groceries has good value for non food items like dishwasher cleaner, fly spray shampoo .
20 probiotic drinks for $10 bucks is good.
We like the 1kg baby spinach or mescaline box. Aldi/ woolies sell for $7/kg more
Some of the "7 day special" meat has been not bad but every Aldi meat doesn't= every day Costco meat for quality & value.
We have given up on Woolies for meat.
Some of the bulk items also make for awesome gifts for expat friends and families overseas for example the box of giant box of Tim-tams and Aussie chips/chocolates.
Health foods are cheap, definitely worth looking into.
If you like preshafruit juice, that is a lot cheaper than its competition. 2 Lt of cold pressed apple juice from memory was 5 dollars. If im not mistaken it would be 5 dollars for 1 litre at coles/woolies.
Also the meats section generally I think are a good deal. We purchase a lot of the vacuum sealed chicken breast/ thigh from costco. We found in our experience it stayed fresher for longer, and because of its packaging it was very convenient to refrigerate / freeze. Lilydale free range chicken is consistenly cheaper at costco.
Personally I also think the mixed salad and spinach sold at costco is cheap, particularly the 1kg boxes.
This is also quite subjective to what alcohol you consume but we have also found certain wines to be quite competitive with pricing.
For example; D'arenberg Dead arm shiraz is $68 dollars from Dan murphys, and I last purchased a bottle at 50 dollars at costco. (Gift, the OBZ in me wont allow me to drink anything more than a 15 dollar bottle) Of course cost and worth of alcohol vary greatly amongst consumers, but I think there are hidden deals costco dont advertise in the alcohol range.
I'd say it's only good for one-off purchases, the in-store eatery and petrol (if your outlet has an adjacent service station that is).
You could arguably get groceries for the same price elsewhere so there's nothing really notable there, unless you've got a big family where the Costco savings might become a bit more tangible, despite the fact you have to fork out $60 for
nothingmembership annually.The novelty wears off fast.