Portsmouth-Portsmouth

Hello- we are a good sized family (of 6), and have a question on the wholesale clubs. I know Sam's, BJ's and Costco are roughly in the area we are moving. The question is, are they good value?

I have never shopped for a family in the US- only in the UK. Costco here in the UK has some great deals, but you need to know what you are buying, and what it goes for in the normal stores.

Space to store bulk items is less of an issue where we are going than where we are now.

Thanks

Brando

I think here too you have to know what you are buying, and be able to compare prices to a 'regular' supermarket.

I don't have a lot of experience of the wholesale clubs, just been to one - BJ's. And to be honest, we wouldn't get membership for it for just us 2, but my mother in law added us onto her account - as the personal accounts come with 2 cards.

There is defo some good stuff there, and actually some of the stuff we get there are the non bulk buys from the butcher or bakery.

What I see people carrying out of there all the time is water in large quantities and bog roll in industrial size packs

These places sometimes offer 'free' 60 day membership type deals, I know BJ's certainly does - check their website. So maybe it's worth trying before buying membership.

NatashaB

We bought our Sams club membership to buy formula and diapers - we definitely earnt back the cost of our membership many times over with what we saved on those. Now that my son is almost out of diapers, I do still make savings to a lesser extent - mainly on bulk buying meat and cheese, which I portion out and freeze. But what we save on that usually gets spent on other things there... like wine The meat is far better quality than anything I've found in normal supermarkets.

Pulaski

I think it is fairly marginal for many things. We are BJ's members, but Mrs P swears that most things are as cheap, or cheaper at Walmart. Direct price comparisons can sometimes be difficult, because of odd sized packets/ cartons. E.g. Tide is sold in slightly larger bottles than the ones that Walmart sells. We look through the monthly coupon book as the coupons often make the difference.

That said we find it worth it because the milk is typically about $1/gallon cheaper, so on that alone we pay for the membership. We also drive right past the store several times a week - driving ten miles across town using up time and gas and we might not bother.

Brando

yeah, good point 'bout location. BJ's here is very convenient for us, and it's somewhere we go past more than once a week, happens to be next to Walmart and Target too.

It's worth going there just for the giant sized muffins from their bakery

Dervy

Sam's Club is well worth the membership price, especially for a family of 6. I'm single, and I get my money's worth on things like meat, bread, frozen veg, milk, laundry soap, etc. They generally have a pretty decent wine selection as well.

Karrie72

It's worth it for the dry goods like tp, pt, foil, wraps and baggies etc. when you have a baby it's a lifesaver for diapers, wipes etc. Wine is decent and you can buy big packs of canned tomatoes, huge wedges of parmesan. I've never tried the meat.
BJ's has more organic selections I recall.

Bob

If you've got kids, especially little ones, they're great value and if they have petrol stations they're good value. Petrol is anything from 10-20c a gallon cheaper.

Otherwise, not so much...but they often have good deals on tyres.

BJ's do allow you to stack coupons and use manufacture coupons on top of their own and they have a monthly book of coupons, a seasonal magazine and weekly flyers in the stores.

Also with BJ's, your membership can get you discounted hotel stay and car/house insurance as well as discount on car rentals. Don't know if those discounts are any better than AAA discounts though.

Pulaski

Not round here, they're not. The BJ's we frequent is sometimes a few cents cheaper than the BP gas station on the access road, but I can usually get BP gas at a better price than BJ's no-brand gas in two areas I drive through regularly, and that is before the BP loyalty discount. BJ's is particularly bad at keeping up (down!) with competing gas stations when prices are falling.

Brando

alas, no wine at BJ's here, being as I live in New York state.

Plenty of beer though, not checked the prices on that, I don't drink it much these days, but I do love me some wine

Bob

Odd, because they are miles cheaper down my way, even cheaper in the one a town or two over.

Even when you add in the loyalty cards of the other stations.

Best was 35c cheaper for regular, but it's usually in the range I said earlier....and there's free air, okay that's not a biggy, but it's a nice bonus

Anian

For fresh fruit and veg, i haven't found Costco to be much cheaper, but pretty much everything else is. I usually make back the membership fee in one trip, although I only go every 2-3 months. Wine is one of the best deals they seem to have, usually about half the price of any grocery store.

jaffy23

Love Costco and find it mostly great value - we used to load up on US food in the store in Reading (UK). We live in Manhattan so prices here are jacked up making Costco even better value. I find the NY store we go to has great value for basics - bog roll, kitchen towel, laundry detergent, soda/VitaminWater, fruit and for staples that have decent shelf life (beer, rice etc). For comparison, a case of Sam Adams is $26 compared to $12 for a 6 pack at my local grocery store. Living in a Manhattan apartment means shelf space is at a premium so we've had to be creative!

We often visit the in-laws in CT and stop in at the Milford Costco which has a wine & liquor store which is amazing value. Their own brand wines are pretty good which was a surprise. The gas station there is always packed, but only 2-3c cheaper (plus the fuel your burn waiting!).

Noorah101

I'm a Costco fan. I buy all my meat and fish at Costco. It has by far the best quality meat I've found. I portion it out and freeze it, so I only have to shop for meat maybe 4 or 5 times a year (it's just me at home, hubby is home one weekend a month). They have excellent rack of lamb and lamb chops at a decent price.

I also buy some bulk items at Costco such as shampoo, conditioner, protein bars, over the counter medicines, and stuff I use a lot such as olive oil, some canned goods, and laundry detergent.

Some of their 1-time buys are good, if you can catch one. They don't always carry the same thing all the time, so if you see something you like, get it while you're there! I bought a leather living room sofa there once that I loved.

As for their fresh produce, I usually only buy romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and avocados, then I eat salad the entire week every day, otherwise it goes bad. I only buy their produce once every 6 or 8 weeks, and just fill in from Safeway.

I do like their veggies, though...they have large bags of broccoli and brussels sprouts, I buy those and eat them nightly till they're gone. They have a big package of butternut squash when it's in season, so I buy that and make soup in the winter...YUM.

I hardly ever buy their fruits, they are just in such a big quantity it goes bad before I can eat it all.

Actually I often buy clothes at Costco, too...since they keep changing their stock, I will usually find something I like there.

Rene

Nutek

We had a BJs account for the last couple of years, but we just let it lapse a couple of months ago.

With just the two of us, we weren't really saving that much and, to get the savings we were getting, we were having to purchase brands that were different from the ones we would have preferred.

There is a certain draw to 5lb bags of Skittles though.