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BJ's or Costco??

BJ's or Costco??

Old Nov 13th 2012, 1:52 pm
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Default BJ's or Costco??

So, we had a membership for Costco, which expired a while ago. There is a brand new BJ's opening up in the same town, across the road from the Costco. I have no experience of BJ's, or whether it's on a par with Costco etc. So I was wondering what people's experiences/opinions are, and whether I should get another membership for Costco, or try out BJ's?
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Old Nov 13th 2012, 2:07 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by Brat1
So, we had a membership for Costco, which expired a while ago. There is a brand new BJ's opening up in the same town, across the road from the Costco. I have no experience of BJ's, or whether it's on a par with Costco etc. So I was wondering what people's experiences/opinions are, and whether I should get another membership for Costco, or try out BJ's?
I'd take BJs every time just for the comedy value.
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Old Nov 13th 2012, 2:54 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

We use BJ's, we have used Sam's Club before.

Costco is way to far away from us...plus in the New England area, there are probably more Sam's Club and BJ's, so handy if you're heading around.

Membershipwise, pretty much all the same, same kind of return policies, same kind of products...so guess it's all down to if you get a discount to join one over the other, or get a bonus membership thing from work.

One thing that is nice about BJ's and I've no idea if Costco do it, but you're able to stack coupons, so you can use one from their monthly coupon book, one from their monthly magazine, the weekly flyer and then any other manufacturers coupons you might have. It's only really been worth the effort for nappies and wipes for us though mind.

Do save a fair bit on the petrol, it's usually between 10-25c a gallon cheaper for us.
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Old Nov 13th 2012, 3:09 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by tonrob
I'd take BJs every time just for the comedy value.
That comedy value, or reminiscing to BJ from M*A*S*H or BJ & The Bear
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Old Nov 13th 2012, 9:12 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Really depends on what you buy, BJ's expired went with Costco.

Bj's is much better for paper goods, toiletries.

Costco meat department blows bj's out of the water.
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Old Nov 13th 2012, 10:34 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Think I'll stick with what I know then, Costco it is
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 12:05 am
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by fsm
Really depends on what you buy, BJ's expired went with Costco.

Bj's is much better for paper goods, toiletries.

Costco meat department blows bj's out of the water.
Down our way, the meat department is really good....though it might help they're based here.

The thick cut bacon is lovely.
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 6:53 am
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Costco had slightly better quality clothing in our area. We could get some name brand items (Ralph Lauren khaki pants) for example which BJs didn't have. The only problem was Costco was a fricking madhouse of people--it was not a pleasant experience to shop there.

In the end, we decided to switch to Amazon Prime for many of the items we used to buy through Costco. We found that when we factored in time + gas + hassle and whatnot, having the items shipped to us via Amazon Prime subscription was a better use of time and money than making the monthly trek to Costco.
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 10:43 am
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

We're having the same condundrum. Although we have 2 costcos within 25 miles of us ( in either direction, we're right in the middle ) and a BJ's in less than 10 miles.
Our Costco membership is up for renewl so we're trying out the free 60 days BJs memeber ship. Out our way Costco is $55 a year, BJ's is $40.

The only thing in product difference is:
BJ's don't sell the burritos we love in the frozen isle.
The prepacked Deli ham and beef (which the OH eats by the ton) is about 25% more expensive.
the Snack goods ( crackers, nutragrain etc are pretyy much the same).

for the meat alone we may take go back to Costco - but for a few months free membership and gas miles we may shop a few more times at BJ's.

Check out thier website, if they are new - there may be some free memberships going....

A
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 10:59 am
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by bilbos92
We're having the same condundrum. Although we have 2 costcos within 25 miles of us ( in either direction, we're right in the middle ) and a BJ's in less than 10 miles.
Our Costco membership is up for renewl so we're trying out the free 60 days BJs memeber ship. Out our way Costco is $55 a year, BJ's is $40.

The only thing in product difference is:
BJ's don't sell the burritos we love in the frozen isle.
The prepacked Deli ham and beef (which the OH eats by the ton) is about 25% more expensive.
the Snack goods ( crackers, nutragrain etc are pretyy much the same).

for the meat alone we may take go back to Costco - but for a few months free membership and gas miles we may shop a few more times at BJ's.

Check out thier website, if they are new - there may be some free memberships going....

A
OMG!!!! I did check out BJ's website yesterday........ ended up looking at online caskets WTF!!!! Do people here actually order their own caskets???? I couldn't believe it!!!!

I'm waiting to see if they're going to offer any opening deals, and maybe check them out, but to be honest, I have had no issues with our Costco here, it's literally 5 minutes car ride away, as is the new BJ's, and they've just opened a gas station, so I think maybe I'll stick to what I know. I actually thought that I might not renew any membership, for the simple reason that I tend to go in and end up buying stuff that I don't really need, but think it's a good deal at the time..... I'm a bit dippy and spur of the moment when it comes to shopping, probably because I don't get out much

Let's see what BJ's come up with to tempt me to take a look........
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 1:33 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by bilbos92
Check out thier website, if they are new - there may be some free memberships going....

A
Our, when the two around here were opening up, they both offered free 60 day membership and if you got a annual membership before it expired, you got another 60 days free added on, so quite a decent deal.

The membership is now $50 down our way regularly and the gold membership with the 2% back is $100. When we first joined it was $35/$50.
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 1:54 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Ah - Brookfield :-)

Used to go to Costco there, but it became so busy a few years back it just wasn't worth going - the checkout lines were busy all the time, and the parking lot crazy - whenever I went, it felt like going to Stew Leonards at Thanksgiving.

Maybe it's better now they've rebuilt it, but they lost my business and started going to BJs in Waterbury, so it'll be good to get one more local.

imho no significant difference between them in terms of what they offer - I know that BJs take manufacturers coupons, and also send piles of coupons in the mail, but maybe Costco does the same.
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 2:22 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

We had a Costco membership during our first year here, but quickly discovered that we saved more money by shopping the offers at our local supermarket (that's much closer) - so we let our membership lapse. Our closest BJ's is much further - got a day pass once and checked it our but wasn't impressed.
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 5:48 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by Brat1
OMG!!!! I did check out BJ's website yesterday........ ended up looking at online caskets WTF!!!! Do people here actually order their own caskets???? I couldn't believe it!!!!
You can get them on the Walmart website too. They're not too bad either, I saw the father-in-law's one on there for much less than my wife's family paid the funeral home. Around here though people are in the ground a day or two after they die so I don't see how they can get them delivered in time.
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Old Nov 14th 2012, 5:56 pm
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Default Re: BJ's or Costco??

Originally Posted by SpoogleDrummer
You can get them on the Walmart website too. They're not too bad either, I saw the father-in-law's one on there for much less than my wife's family paid the funeral home. Around here though people are in the ground a day or two after they die so I don't see how they can get them delivered in time.
Probably get their best business for places like Maine, where if your out in the boonies, you can be kept on ice during winter before being buried, so more time to shop around. Unless you're getting cremated
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