Metropol

So, having been reduced to CRUSHING poverty by my foolish decision to pursue further education (why do I not listen to Chie and Plymouth?) I have been considering investigating the el cheapo mountain / gav baiting temple that is Costco.

There is one sat next to Ikea in Edinburgh and it has always intrigued me. What exactly do you need to join? Are there members here? How did you join? I'm only wondering because the website is utterly poor and vague.

And most importantly, are the bargains worth the membership fee?

Pete wrote:So, having been reduced to CRUSHING poverty by my foolish decision to pursue further education (why do I not listen to Chie and Plymouth?) I have been considering investigating the el cheapo mountain / gav baiting temple that is Costco.

There is one sat next to Ikea in Edinburgh and it has always intrigued me. What exactly do you need to join? Are there members here? How did you join? I'm only wondering because the website is utterly poor and vague.

And most importantly, are the bargains worth the membership fee?

I'd argue yes, the bargains are worth the fee, however, it is better if you are buying for more than just one person.

To join I believe you must be a member of a trade union, or be a teacher and the like or join as a trader with your own shop. Usually they send the membership applications to work places and you can sign up through there.

EDIT: Also worth noting their sausage rolls are rather nice, to relate this with the other discussions on the site.

Pete wrote:So, having been reduced to CRUSHING poverty by my foolish decision to pursue further education (why do I not listen to Chie and Plymouth?) I have been considering investigating the el cheapo mountain / gav baiting temple that is Costco.

There is one sat next to Ikea in Edinburgh and it has always intrigued me. What exactly do you need to join? Are there members here? How did you join? I'm only wondering because the website is utterly poor and vague.

And most importantly, are the bargains worth the membership fee?

If it's anything like Booker, it's not worth the bother. They are more expensive than supermarkets most of the time, unless you buy the specialist crap that's sold there.

Round here, we have a chain of freezer stores (Heron) that usually have some frozen (and non-frozen) bargains (Full size pizzas for 99p, huge trays of surplus frozen products, cans of Pepsi, Tango, etc. for 4 for £1, 1.5l bottles of flavoured water for 60p, Walkers Sensations at 2 for £1). There will probably be something similar up in Edinburghland.

bilky asko wrote:Round here, we have a chain of freezer stores

No I don't do freezer shops sorry.

Pete wrote:

bilky asko wrote:Round here, we have a chain of freezer stores

No I don't do freezer shops sorry.

If you can afford not to shop in them, then you can afford to shop at supermarkets. Tins of Heinz soup for 44p. Jars of hotdogs for 99p. Packs of Clubs for 69p...

I can't resist them.

Then again, places like Iceland and Farmfoods are much, much worse.

If you are far too middle class for freezers, try going down to local markets.

bilky asko wrote:If you are far too middle class for freezers, try going down to local markets.

Sorry, I don't do markets. This is a dedicated costco thread, can we please stay on topic. Thanks. xx

(I'll be honest, its more curiosity about non-food items e.g. dishwasher tablets and laundry powder rather than actual food)

Pete wrote:

bilky asko wrote:If you are far too middle class for freezers, try going down to local markets.

Sorry, I don't do markets. This is a dedicated costco thread, can we please stay on topic. Thanks. xx

(I'll be honest, its more curiosity about non-food items e.g. dishwasher tablets and laundry powder rather than actual food)

if you are disciplined, then costco is value for money. i bulk buy most of the non-food shop like detergent, bin bags, dishwasher tabs etc and I'm fairly confident that they're on par with or better value than your average supermarket. i have no doubt that places like lidl are probably cheaper, but then their stuff is foreign and crap.

their monthly vouchers are pretty good and relevant and catering packs of meat are great for filling the freezer.

the other advantage is that it speeds up the weekly shop as you can miss out a few of the aisles at the end.

tvmercia wrote:i have no doubt that places like lidl are probably cheaper, but then their stuff is foreign and crap.

Aldi does remarkably good non-food products (and, actually, some food products too - I love their Soave), and it's really quite a nice place to shop.

Their Almat washing powder is top-rated by the Good Housekeeping Institute... and me!

Yeah but it's German.

all new Phil wrote:Yeah but it's German.

Bloomin' 'eck, that's a comment I'd be proud of!

And there was me being worried about putting a comment on Facebook last night (subsequently deleted by the owner of the wall it was on) saying that I was surprised that the US Air Force was flying to Japan to help STOP nuclear radiation.

Ah yes the inevitable "black" humour that arises from situations like this.

I'm waiting for someone to do a Godzilla joke with all this nuclear fallout...er... falling out.