Compare Costco, Sams Club, Walmart & Target, quality, value, prices, etc. Food items. (refund, cheapest)

[yellowsnow]

To me the real comparison is Costco VS Everyone Else. Costco has higher quality and more things are organic, fair trade, etc. More real food and less junk. Yes, you can walk out of Costco with a whole cart of junk food. But it will be better junk food than what you buy at Walmart. And Sam's Club is Walmart too!

I only talked about food because that's all I buy at Costco/Sam's. And I consciously avoid Walmart. I usually buy all my paper, detergents, and cleaning products at the 99centsOnlyStore.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

I went with a friend to Costco to look at the optical department last year. I could not find a frame that I really liked. The prices were actually higher than Visionworks with the AARP discount (50%).

It must vary from one Costco to another. I wear progressive bifocals and I got a pair 7 or 8 years ago at Costco and was very disappointed but I recently decided to give them another try and I'm very happy with the lens and the frame. The frame is the same one I had looked at in another optical store but they were half the price and the lenses are fantastic, their progressives are now digital and it makes all the difference. The pair I had before this I got at Kaiser with what was supposed to be a 'big discount', I wrote a check for almost $400 for the worst pair of glasses I've ever owned.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by countrylv22

Thanks for your post! Do you think it is worth to have membership to both Costco & Sam's?

I have both but only because I use the Groupon for Sam's Club. You can't use one if you've been a member in the past 60 days so one year my husband signs up, the next year I do. You get enough coupons with the groupon deal that the membership is practically free. I think Sam's club meat is cheaper and there are some other things that I like to buy there as well but I have never been thrilled with their store brand products. I used to buy Rao's spaghetti sauce for half of what other stores sell it for but now they've replaced it with "Member's Mark" which tastes like ketchup.

We like Costco grain free dog food and their chicken feed is good too, but for every day groceries we generally shop at Winco

[Dogboa]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I've had a question about the restaurat supply store. The one I use just changed their name. They were Cash and Carry and just changed to Smart Food Warehouse. But there have to be restaurant supply stores all over the country.

Packages tend to be large. Beef is in 15-20 pound chunks. Cheese is in 5 pound packages. Canned goods are in gallons.

But not always. They have fresh rice noodles in 5 pound bsgs, but also sell dried rice noodles in a one pound package.

I buy frozen seafood in 5 pound boxes, but the pieces are individually frozen, so very easy to repackage.

I buy the 20 pound chunk of steak, but steaks also come frozen, portioned and seasoned, ready to go on the grill. Those are in a 5 pound box. I buy 40 pounds of chicken that comes in four bags ( 10 pounds per bag) all frozen together, but there is also a 5 pound box of individual portions.

They are open to the public. The one I use will not take checks unless they are business checks from a registered business. They accept cash and credit cards.

Restaurant Depot requires a resale certificate to join. It is only open to businesses, but it doesn't have to be a restaurant/food related business. They have fresh as well as frozen meat, poultry and seafood. It kills me that I can buy a 5 pound bag of lemons and limes for under $6.00, while the local Publix, Winn Dixie and Penn Dutch are $.99 each or 2 for $1.00 on special. When I make pork sausages, I buy the twin packs of boneless pork butts. Since Florida doesn't allow harvesting Queen conch, I buy 5 pound boxes of frozen Bahamian Queen conch there.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by crone

I get ticked off much of the time we go to Costco at their busy times.. When people are crowdedI around the sample vendors it drives me nuts. But, DH reminds me of the great stock prices and the dividends. He called the broker to sell some Costco stock and the broker said don't do that. He was right.

I pass Costco every day. So that's where we stock up on paper, detergent, etc. And gasoline. We save enough on gasoline to pay for the card. I like the fact that Costco pays their employees a living wage. And I also like getting $3-400.00 check from Costco every year.

For produce and bakery, Sprouts.

We go to Costco at 10AM on Monday morning or 4:30-5 ish on Friday afternoon. It's nearly empty on Friday late in the day.

and worse is when the stores are busy (usually weekends) and parents let the kids have sample on top of sample of the hand outs even the toddlers in the baskets.

As for checks from Costco; Sam's does about the same, based on the use of their credit card. Lets face it, both chains are more alike than different.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by countrylv22

Thanks for your post! Do you think it is worth to have membership to both Costco & Sam's?

for us the answer is NO. That is why we now, only have Sam's. Maybe for a family with kids at home it would be different, but for just the two of us, it isn't.

[mainebrokerman]

not a fan of walmarts meat...… as evidenced by the burger recall....they ship everything in ...do not process anything fresh on site

[Marv95]

Costco
Walmart
Target

Never been to Sam's so I'm not gonna include that. The closest one is over 20 miles away.

In terms of overall value, Costco tops them. Yes getting nothing but bulk items can be annoying for a single guy but they last. 5LB bag of rice can last for several months if I don't eat it more than twice a week. Just got large boxes of hot chocolate and oatmeal; they may last me for at least 2 months.The prices aren't that bad for what I'm getting. I do avoid getting produce and bread from there(Giant, Redners and to an extent Walmart are my choices in town). I haven't gotten any food from Target in at least a year. Might as well go to the Giant next door.

[Johnhw2]

We buy a lot of prepared food items and love the Ravioli Lasagna and Chicken Alredo prepared in Costco's. We also have found not consistently, good India chicken dishes as well as Italian frozen meals by Giovanni at Costco's.


At Sams we buy Members Mark Ice Cream, BBQ Beans and all our fruit from them They are lowest price for paper items such as Charmin Toilet paper and Brawny Paper towels. We like their Members Mark brand tall trash bags. I got K cup coffee from them as well as some generic pharma over the counter items. We keep mini Tacos from Sams around as a simple snack or add on to your meals. We like an Orange chicken with fried rice from them too.


There are many other items too many to list here but it might be a good topic for a thread to hear the list of things people like from Costco or Sams for sure to give me the confidence to branch out and try some new items.


We prefer Sam's four berry Sundae and Polish hotdogs to choices at Costco.

[countrylv22]

Originally Posted by nmnita

for us the answer is NO. That is why we now, only have Sam's. Maybe for a family with kids at home it would be different, but for just the two of us, it isn't.

Thanks, I appreciate your input.
From what I have read, a lot of people say that they can justify the annual membership fee with the gas savings alone. But, I am not too sure about that. In some towns I think you can get lower gas prices at other stations...