I miss B.J.'s
I was a Sam's Club member for several years before I began to question my loyalty. I hadn't been thrilled with the selection for a while, but I'd assumed all warehouse clubs were the same. I finally decided to try out some others, and I switched to B.J.'s. They had many more of the toiletry items that I actually preferred (Olay products, Arm & Hammer toothpaste, UNSCENTED Sure deodorant), they carried J's favorite Zone bars in bulk, and they had a fantastic pet aisle with great bargains on their own brands (like the dog bed, which is still holding up very nicely). AND, the membership price was right--only slightly more expensive than Sam's Club, but I came in during a special deal and got $10 off.
Unfortunately, B.J.'s is only in the northeast, and so I needed to find another warehouse club once we got out here. Sam's and Costco are the only contenders in my area that I know of, and so the obvious choice seemed to be Costco--I hadn't been thrilled with Sam's already, and I'd heard great things about Costco in the past; the only thing keeping me away was the higher membership price. I found another deal wherein I could get a $10 gift card for signing up, so I went to the nearest club and signed up without hesitation.
Afterwards, as I was walking through the store, I found myself growing disappointed with the offerings. The toiletry and pet sections were definitely sub-par, and they carried NO Zone bars. I don't even think I found All Free & Clear detergent, and certainly no Woolite in bulk. Basically, I found toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning supplies--all of which I'm very well stocked up with for the moment. I may have been happier at Sam's!
I'm now wondering whether there's any difference between locations of the same warehouse club? Or do they all carry the same items?
While we're on the subject of buying bulk, I'll share this link I got out of a recent issue of Good Housekeeping. It's a website with links for sites offering items in bulk. It's somewhat limited in scope presently, but hopefully it will be expanding.
posted by SMB @ 1:26 PM
3 Comments:
Yes, some of the different stores do carry different items. My fiance has a Costco membership (I love Costco). I live in the Bay Area and I found the one in SF seemed to have a lot more items than some of the ones in the Bay Area. Also I like a particular type of soy milk and I've only seen it at the Costco in one particular area, I think due to the demographics of the area. Also sometimes everyone will carry the same item, but one store will sell out much more quickly than the other store.
I'm in the midwest, my mom switched to costco from sam's and then dropped costco and membership clubs altogether.
She hates grocery shop to begin with but then each time she went to Costco the product offerings varied so she never knew if the products she planned to shop for would be available. She decided it wasn't worth paying a membership to be further annoyed with the grocery shopping experience!
An alternative is the Rainbow Grocery down in the Mission. I think it's a co-op too.
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