Amazulu

[quote=jond;7819505] In America they sell petrol - usually at the lowest price too.

Petals

Anyone noticed that our big 2 are already taking notice and offering specials if you buy more than one item at a time. This has been around before on a limited basis but in Coles and Safeway this week it seems its going to be the way they are doing things from now on.

slipshot

Coles & Safeway are very different to Costco. I'm having to buy toilet rolls again - the best I can get is 18, where as Costco I'd buy 96 at a time. That's way way cheaper than anywhere else...

Not heard about the opening being delayed. Blinkin' hope not...

herrchook

I heard the changes in Coles are due to an ex Asda chief coming on board . Whatever the reason though, it's all good. Loving the fact they now do unit pricing too

Geelong Gent

http://www.costco.com.au/MV/Membership.aspx

For those who want to sign up or investigate further

sr71

I'd like to see some prices first, although I'm sure they will have some headline grabbing specials in their opening weeks.

IndieG

I can't seem to find what products they plan to sell in Oz - any website where I can check the stuff and prices?

slipshot

That's not the way Costco works at all. You will rarely see advertising since in most markets they do not need to and likewise, the prices do not change that much. They buy in bulk and sell in bulk and prices reflect this. They have leaflets advertising new products they have in-store or a few unique deals, but mainly because they have job lots. It's hard to explain until you go there and see it, but given you can buy jewellery there, I once bought my Mont Blanc pen there, watches, drills, food, drink and tons of wine, running machines, swimming pools, bulk tins of baked beans, large pizza's, Michelin tyres which they fit there as well, an opticians, a place to print your photos...

It's not a cash & carry since it is more than that - but if you live in a 1 bed apartment on the 10th floor Costco will be a nightmare since you need space to store everything. And lots of it since like others most come back with a trolley full.

I've easily spent a good £400+ each trip, but every couple of months is all you need.

WillBlack

Sounds like the place for aspiring ascetics to affirm their staunchness.

ABCDiamond

I see the point....

comet555

For comparison sake, here is the link to the US website:
http://www.costco.com/

You can get an idea as to what types of items they sell and possibly a rough idea of prices. It's somewhat useless to compare prices though since you'd have to factor in differences in currency and importing, etc.

But you can see from the website they really do have a little of everything!

Petals

If you want bulk toilet rolls there are plenty of small companies that supply them we used to get them for the office from a small supplier and they supply households as well.

I guess you go to it and hope you will find something you want, not the way I shop. I shop for things that I want and know the price before I shop.

BenandPam

First let me say I have no association with Costco, I just have experience of shopping there.

Did you look at Costco's website? Do you regularly buy fresh fruit and veg, tinned food, frozen food, fresh meat, bread etc? All of these can be bought at Costco, and not always in huge amounts. That is not including car tyres, the optician (which is very good), non-food items ie household cleaning products, booze and electrical goods. The list goes on.

The pricing thing is a fair point, as Costco is an unknown entity in Australia and is charging for membership. I haven't seen an advertising of pricing, but I think it would be a good idea to do it. Having said that, I strongly suspect that the combination of word-of-mouth and media coverage will give people a good idea of the savings that can be made.

As for spending time on finding a company that sells toilet rolls in bulk, are you serious??? Who in their right mind is going to go to that much trouble for just one item when they could go to Costco?

WillBlack

Why go to Costco when you can have bog rolls delivered to your office?

Costco Aust pricing is not currently not publicly known. Judging from http://www.costco.com/ is does not look very impressively cheap. I imagine a lot of people will impulse buy stuff for which they have no significant use. Something to do to use up unused credit on the card / mortgage.

comet555

Well, from my experience in Canada many of the small businesses in our town chose to drive the 45 minutes to the nearest Costco because many of the things they needed were still cheaper than the local wholesalers. My step mom bought some things from local wholesalers, some from a large bulk store and the rest (the bulk of it) from Costco. She compared all the prices and would spread her shopping about accordingly. Not all the products are cheaper at Coscto, but quite a bit of it is.

It's probably fruitless to compare prices to the US website. To get Costco going in Australia what they really need to do is distrube some flyers with a list of prices and make sure they include a unit price so that it is easier to compare. A lot of people still assume that the local wholesale suppliers will be cheaper and I think they would be surprised to see the differences.

For me, the benefit of Costco was always the cheaper prices and the selection (without the need to go all over for the best deal). More importantly they had a lot of the brands and items that I wanted, and the fact that you got them in bulk (cheaper) meant I didn't have to go shopping as often. Which suits me just fine.