I just watched a sort of documentary on TV about Costco Warehouse and found it very interesting. I'd like some input from those who have shopped at any of the big warehouse club type stores and to know if their prices are really that much better to make a trip to one. Where I live there is nothing like this and would like to save money on groceries and household items. I did a search and found only Sam's Club and BJ's within a drive-able day trip.
Right now we do our grocery shopping every other week. We go to the nearest small city (60 miles away) where there is some competition having at least 2 big grocery store chains plus an
Aldi. We've found the Aldi is the best for prices but have a limited selection - we will buy everything on our list at Aldi first then the rest is shopped between the other 2 stores. If we choose to use one of the big wholesale club type stores, we would probably work it with a one trip per month shop. I found that there is a Sam's Club and a BJ's ~65 miles away but in different directions.
First off, it looks like you need to give them $50 to belong. I'm sorry, but that just goes against all my principals - pay a store so you can buy from them? Even if I get over that, then I would have to figure out where the breaking point of savings is after that initial $50 is covered.
Then the question comes if the prices are really that much better than the bigger grocery stores items when they are on sale. My wife spends hours with the sale flyers from all the stores in the city that we travel to for our supplies plus uses any coupons she can find. It's a long all day process since it involves going to as many as 6 different stores in one trip. But, she has her list figured out and buys each respective item that is on sale at each store.
Budget wise, we spend ~$500 per month on groceries and basic household supplies. So are these warehouse clubs worth the cost and are the savings significant enough?