I have a Costco membership, I am NOT renewing it in June. I’m not impressed with the store at all and now that they require me to wear a mask to go in, I won’t go. Sam’s has more to offer and while they do the distancing thing, they don’t require masks or get all Nazi about it.
We moved from seattle to kentucky nine years ago. We LIVED BY costco and have been members since 1988. We spent as much as $30k a year there some years.
But a funny thing happened. When we moved to the sticks we found that we were 90 minutes from the nearest costco and the only “real” local choice was wal-mart - which is a non-started.
Then we started using Amazon. Holy cow! Much more selection by several orders of magnitude than Costco, and better prices often. We are seeing a fed-ex or UPS truck almost every day.
And we’ve been doing some soul searching on why we even keep a Costco membership. The only real reasons are:
1. Tires are a good deal. I have four cars and either get the really nice Michelen sport tires for one of my cars, or the Bridgestone for the other three. And one or the other brand is always on sale for a significant discount.
2. Liquor is ridiculously cheap there. Especially the Kirkland brand which, in many cases is one of the best.
3. A weird status of having a 32 year old membership.
4. They sell their rotisserie chicken at a loss and it is excellent.
But honestly, we just don’t use it much any more. Because I work in Louisville, I drive fairly close by one of them on my way home, when we need a lot of spinach or something. But Amazon has virtually completely replaced them for us. And Costco online doesn’t compete yet. And on a side note, if they don’t get their online act together, I think Amazon will bury them eventually