Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

The difference in experience/quality between my two nearest Sobeys is startling.

One is a delight to wander around, the checkout staff are really good and wonderful at packing, like they have a degree in it and it has the advantage of being next to the liquor store.

The other, my 'local', frequently displays the wrong prices, often doesn't have stuff in stock even in the first hour of a new flyer week, not very good at packing and now they no longer have an olive bar :( But it is convenient for Canadian Tire.

And both stores do have the Belgian bread - the bestest bread I have found.;)

Did you get any elk or bison?

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Haha, I love that bloody stuff.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Our local Safeway/Sobeys is slowly being run further and further into the ground. Most of the staff are still good, especially the ones that are hold-overs from Safeway before the sale. But sale items are often not available, stuff just disappears from the shelves and is never seen again.

They seem to decide what they think we should buy, not what we actually want to buy. For example, they only carry Everready batteries, haven't seen Duracell since shortly after the take-over. More and more of our friends are complaining that they can no longer find on the shelves items that they have bought for the last umpteen years.

They had elk and bison in the flyer, but I didn't go in that week so I don't know if it was actually there.

The meat section does have some very nice fresh sausages that are not in packs. I think they are made"locally", ie BC or Alberta, but they are sold by the butcher behind the meat counte and wrapped in butcher paper. The usual ones are Herbed British Bangers and Mild Italian (which are actually quite spicy sometimes!).

The Safeway/Sobeys at a mall about 5 kms away is better for a lot of things, but the mall is in chaos as they are building 40, 50 and 60 storey towers all around it on the parking areas. It's hell-ish trying to work your way round all the blocked areas and then trying to find a parking space. The mall isn't much good for anything else unless you are size 0 and have loads of money to spare ............... the stores are being replaced by shops like Coach, Michael Kors, etc etc.

Daughter gave up on Sobeys in Metro Halifax long ago, they prefer Atlantic Superstore. The only time they go to Sobeys is when we visit because they carry a couple of lactose-free items that the Superstore doesn't have.

She really commiserated with us when Sobeys bought out Safeway.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

There isn't much that rhymes with baklava or he would have mentioned it. :lol: I went once with a friend who had membership, grazed a bit, and on my 3rd pass baklava lady was starting to give me hard looks. It was really good.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

It just shows the differences province to another province and even within same city!
I much prefer Superstore but the Sobeys store I like is the best experience while the Sobeys I don't like is the worst.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Similar experience here. A new Sobeys store opened nearby a couple of years back which is their latest design. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, big deli area and huge bakery. Not so much canned and dry goods but the essentials. The older Sobeys a few ksms away feels positively down at heel in comparison, has less fresh produce, less meat but more dry goods. I hardly ever shop there as a consequence. Both are next to liquor stores. :-)

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

I’m quite happy with my local Sobey’s.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

The best chain in BC grocery store wise that I have been to is Save On, their name doesn't reflect the prices but overall all of their stores I have ever been to are nice, modern, clean and their employees friendly, and they have top notch in store baked goods.

I like Safeway for some specific things, but I am finding they keeping going down hill and some Safeway's are now being converted to other Sobey owned brand Freshco.

We shop mostly from No Frills out of necessity, but I hate that store so much, small, crowded, understaffed, no good baked goods/no in store anything.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

The No Frills closest to us is small & overcrowded, such a horrible shopping experience, no idea what other locations are like. I walked into an IGA once downtown, walked out as soon as I saw the prices lol

Superstore isn't bad, just none on this side of the city, and takes 35-40 minutes on transit, requires a bus and train, so not worth it and hauling it back home.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Our Safeway/Sobeys has mainly good staff, some appalling, but we do have problems finding things twice, or they'll carry something fro 6 months and you get used to having it then it disappears.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

I spoke too soon.

Just been to my local Sobey’s the fridge shelf is full of bags of salad that have been withdrawn because of listeria. I took a bag to customer services and explained it’s been all over the news today. I was told to go and tell another assistant, which I did. She said she knows nothing about it. A man nearby overheard and said he had heard it too. I wonder if they are still on the shelves?

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

FWIW ......... Sobeys bought our Safeway in BC, closed some, but has kept the name of Safeway SO FAR. Some are being changed to the new cheaper fresher (??) brand Freshco

They got rid of all Safeway's own brands and have replaced them with their own, Compliments, which in most cases are not as good as the Safeway own brands were.

Sobeys just declared recently that they are finally making a profit "again" in BC after losing many millions per year from when they bought out Safeway.

I found it very interesting that the guy who was leading Sobeys when they bought Safeway was the same guy who was responsible for Sobeys buying out a major chain in Ontartio, that then proceeded to bleed money like you wouldn't beleive.

He lost his job about 2 years after they moved in to BC when the losses began to mount up.

You should google Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, Halifax. He has had some very insightful articles on Sobeys, their actions and capabilities.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

We went to Superstore on Marine Drive in south Vancouver once soon after it opened as all the news was how cheap it was and how good.

It was no good for us ............. we ended up getting only half of the items on that week's list and had to go elsewhere (back to Safeway!) to get the rest. Plus we didn't find it that much cheaper.

We have been several times since to get some particular item that wasn't available elsewhere.

It is hard to find your way around, and much of the stock, fresh or otherwise, is heavily ethnic as it is in the centre of the South-East Asian population in Vancouver. You want some Duran fruit??? That's the place to go :nod:

This ethnic emphasis is very common in Metro Vancouver, I don't know about elsewhere .............

if you want Chinese supplies, lots of choice of frozen fish or live fish, etc, go to the Safeway at Oakridge Mall or in Richmond.

The Safeway at 70th and Granville in south Vancouver has an increasingly large stock of various Asian foods (Chinese, Korean, Filippino)

If you want a good choice of kosher foods, go to the Safeway at King Edward and Oak

Don't go to the low income areas to get cheap food .............. many of the stores consider those areas as "tied shopping", because people don't have cars to easily go elsewhere, so they can charge what they want to people who have to buy their food.

In general, grocery stores in the downtown peninsula are either the higher-priced chains or charge higher prices than branches elsewhere. Somewhat similar to what I posted above about low income areas, except that while many people in downtown don't have cars, they also have more disposable income and want more "fancy" foods.

The IGA on 41st at Dunbar had very good comparable prices the last time I went in there (many years ago), but not surprised to hear the one downtown was expensive.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

I'll bet you mean durian fruit, (breadfruit [might as well be] *). You can buy it in Superstore here, have been able to for ages. If it was Duran fruit and you bought 2, you could say Duran Duran. My friends shop on the Drive and get veg at a nice open air market, which isn't expensive, sausage at JN&Z's, which is worth every penny, Asian specialty foods at any Asian grocery, which is cheap, and booze at the liquor store, which is expensive. They like to get their seafood on Granville Island, which costs far more than anywhere, but I don't. When I want to get a quart of oysters or some mussels I go to one of the Chinese fish stores on the edge of Chinatown near the park where the Italians play bocce; it usually costs half as much and they're just as good.
*https://foodstruct.com/compare/bread...an-raworfrozen

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Definitely these ones?
Eat Smart brand 794 G (28 OZ) Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad Bag Kit

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

We did start off with Costco, but have not been now for more than 9 months and will not be renewing our card. I am sure it can be great, but we get everything we want at sensible prices elsewhere without buying in bulk (Canadian Tire, Metro, Covent Garden Market, etc.), but then not massively cost-conscious, more interested in quality. We did find it OK for many things, so not being 'sniffy' about it or anything. I used to buy a whole filet of beef and butcher it down myself which is a very cost-effective way of doing it and we found their meats very good I have to say.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Hell of a carbon footprint though. ;)

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Yes, I did mean Durian, otherwise known as the worst smelling fruit :rofl:

Most people can't get past the smell to taste it, but OH had it in Indonesia and likes the taste. Durian icecream or gelato can be found in some of the speciality stores in Vancouver, and OH always tries to find out who has it "this year".

Imagine walking into the Superstore to find a very large cardboard box filled with ripe durian ............... people were walking in one door and turning right around and going out the nearest exit

I think breadfruit is completely different ..... it is smaller and doesn't have a smell. I tried some in Australia, and it was pretty good..

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

I get overwhelmed by the exaggeration of the floor to massive ceiling abundance. It's so over the top it's oppressive. Maybe a symbol of western consumer arrogance? . . . It's a far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts . . .

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

I once laughed at a cartoon in a Canadian publication. Well, smiled weakly. Adam, the eponymous character, goes to Costco and buys a box of breakfast cereal as big as him. He drives home with it overwhelming his roof rack. He puts his shoulder to the box and is able to tip it over. A single Cheerio, the size of the box, rolls out.

OK, it's not Enoch Powell or the boss of Distillers on the cover of Private Eye but it's the best example local humour I've come across.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Adam is an American cartoon published in Canadian papers, so a very poor example of Canadian humour.

I don't think there are many Canadians doing those strip cartoons, though there are several very good Canadian political cartoonists that are usually published on editorial pages of the newspapers.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

A perfect example, no?

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

That reason sounds as plausible as the cashier in Superstore on Thursday, ringing up a bottle of Maple Syrup and telling my mother in law that you can't get it in Europe. :lol:

Re: Costco - worth the hype?
 

I asked the store manager of Save On once about a specific item in produce they didn't carry, the manager was able to bring it in, they stocked it for about 2 months but sales were too low so the main office wouldn't let the store order it anymore. But the manager tried.

Re: Costco - worth the hype?