Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This has been hashed out elsewhere but I'm interested in what people local to the Triangle think. If you were going to purchase a second shopping club membership, would you go with Sam's or BJ's? We're long time Costco members and happily so, but live just a bit too far from either area location to make regular visits. As I pass both BJ's and Sam's on my way too and from the office I'd like to join one but can't easily separate the two from recent visits.
I found BJs is better for Infant/baby supplies and they carry more organic products that I like. They have the best coupon policy. You can combine store coupons and manufacturer coupons. Also I find getting the membership which gives 2% back is worth it if you shop there often and use it for gas.
Not the OP but I'm not a member of any. I'm thinking of getting a membership and I'm willing to drive a little extra if one is better than the other. Can you guys tell me why Costco is better than BJ's? What makes it more worthwhile?
I guess I'll be the lone voice crying in the wilderness. We've been with Sam's for years and they have everything we need. Got a temporary BJs card once and it looked like the same stuff Sam's had. I echo the above advice to go to the one that's easiest for you to get to.
We are member's at both BJ's and Sam's Club and much prefer BJ's. We will probably drop Sam's once a closer Costco opens for us. Even with a Plus membership at Sam's which gets us sale prices on certain things each month we prefer BJ's. They offer coupons for no additional membership cost, they take Amex which Sam's does not, and the Morrisville Sam's is really slow to check out.
I much prefer Costco over Sam's or BJs, but there are certain items that only one place carries. Sam's seems to be in more cities across the country than the others. We don't have BJs in the Midwest, and Costco seems to only have stores in large cities. The nearest Costco is over 250 miles away from me!
Not the OP but I'm not a member of any. I'm thinking of getting a membership and I'm willing to drive a little extra if one is better than the other. Can you guys tell me why Costco is better than BJ's? What makes it more worthwhile?
Costco's Kirkland brand paper towels and toilet paper are my favorite. Also love the cheese and the wine. And the Salmon/sweet potato dog food and the CheckUps. And the Kirkland precooked bacon is out of this world. Much better than any other brand I've ever tried. Overall, Costco's products seem to be of higher quality than B.J.
I shop at B.J. as well. Some items are in more manageable amounts. I shop the produce a lot.
Used to have a Sam's Card and while they had good items, Costco had better quality and B.J. was closer.
Our Costco card pays for itself. We just got a rebate check for several times what our membership cost.
Up until this year we had a Sams Club membership since they opened the Capital Blvd location around 1997 or so, however this past year the service got really bad with many items not being restocked including produce, which was often rotten, and fresh baked goods which happened on more than one occasion until I finally had enough and decided not to renew the membership. The other negative for this same particular Sam's store is that they do not have a gas station while both BJ's and Costco do, so I felt we were not receiving the full benefits value of our membership.
We've also had a BJ's membership for many years and signed up mainly for the gas station which with having three cars on the road easily covered the membership cost in fuel savings alone. However with two brand new Sheetz stores opening very soon in the immediate vicinity of BJ's that may become less of a benefit which remains to be seen.
Overall BJ's tends to have less variety of items than Sam's and the package portion sizes are smaller on some things that we buy. We do save money with their coupon books that come in the mail where as Sam's had a quirky coupon system where you could only print out coupons at a kiosk after arriving at the store for which you had to pay an extra membership fee and the coupon kiosk was out of order much of the time, so we only did that for one year and dropped it.
Since we decided not to renew our Sam's club membership we finally decided to join Costco this year. We only go to the Costco location on Wake Forest and Six Forks Roads and that store is a mad house on the weekends with lots of people shopping which adds to the already difficult task of getting in and out of there given the physical layout and traffic patterns in that particular area.
Costco offers more overall variety of things than Sam's or BJ's however their prices are a bit higher as well but not overly outrageous. My biggest drawback to joining Costco is that they only accept American Express or debit cards but there is no annual fee for their AMEX. The lines both inside the store and at the gas pumps can be long waits on busy weekend days, but neither are a problem during most weekdays. Costco favors their Kirkland brand which is fine for some things, but sometimes I prefer name brands that Costco doesn't sell but BJ's or Sam's Club usually does so that is the main difference for us where Costco falls a bit short on brand choice selection.
So my verdict is that all three membership clubs have pluses and minuses and it just depends on your particular needs as to which one works best for you but none of them are perfect.
Wow, thanks for all the input. I agree that Costco reigns supreme in the warehouse space but as mentioned originally, I have to plan time to get there and that's just not easy for me to do.
Based on all this feedback I think I'll give Sam's a shot. It's a bit more convenient than BJ's because I can easily stop by during the workday and fill in on those items that are hard to keep stocked long term (mostly produce and bread). Plus my wife seemed to think they had a better offering in their clothing section and you know what the say about a happy wife. Worse case scenario is, if Sam's fails to meet our needs I can always grab a sixty-day BJ's trial membership and take them out for a test drive as well.
You know what I find amazing though, is that North Raleigh doesn't warrant a Costco. I keep thinking if they put one on Highway 98 and add a Trader Joe's life would be really, really good for a whole lot of us.
Costco is a bit out of the way for us but the wife and I agreed to try it for one year and then decide whether to renew or not when the time comes as we have done with all three clubs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
