Mums Take Five: Costco - The excursion with a difference

I don't think the kids would like it more than Luna Park but i certainly found it very entertaining. So much so I'm writing a blog post on it.

Costco what an experience. I've wanted to go check it out since it opened July last year but you have to be a member etc etc and just haven't got around to it. I had the opportunity to go today and loved it but perhaps i loved it because it was just so unbelievably odd, quirky, stereotypical, interesting, eye opening ........ ridiculous and random.

let me set the scene :

So you park your car in an over sized car park (the car spaces are quite large which was nice), walk over to the entrance ramp and get your trolley. Which you have the option of a mean ass large carton holding thing or the smaller version which is a super sized woolies trolley that holds two babies and double a full normal grocery shop. The height of these is also a bit crazy there was a woman walking towards my fairly new car and the handle of the trolley came up to her chest. The trolleys were my first amusement.

The second thing i found funny in a ridiculous kinda way was all these people pushing these super sized trolley's up a ramp - as fast as they could. I would like to warn you that these people with trolleys are scary, the trip to Costco can be life threatening and you are to leave your manners in the car park.

At the entrance you are herded together like cattle and slowly you move forward by being nudged in the heels by somebody's trolley behind you it is also customary to try and gently push the trolley next to you out of your way. Please note that nobody but you and your shopping companion will find your "mooo" ing funny. certainly not the large middle aged European man that is already not impressed you are delaying his entry with a stroller.

Mooooooooooo

Once you enter the store this herding scenario disappears and becomes a Wonka land of pure imagination for super sized and random crap for purchase all in one big shed.

Your first stop is electrical goods TV's, WII's etc then you walk past the "Hearing Aid Centre" and on to the start of aisles of pallet shelving that have kitchenware, sewing machines, umbrellas and craft.

The middle of the store has tables of clothes, books, 6ft tall Nutcrackers, child dress-ups, sheet sets, a Halloween themed tealight holder and of course right next to socks you'll find a peddle boat for only $939.00 - bargain!

Over on the far side and back walls is the highlight and the reason i went - food .

Where else in Australia can you buy 1.36kg of Reese's Pieces!!

(for those that don't know they're m&m's filled with peanut butter instead of chocolate)

Really i don't think its any cheaper at all. Maybe if you were to buy in bulk and i mean bulk like 1000 toilet rolls. Other than that the "bulk" sized foods weren't cheap for instance tasty cheese you can buy in like 5kg blocks but it still works out about $12 a kilo. You can buy multi pack deodorants and toothpaste etc which aren't cheap they're the same or slightly more expensive than Woolies or BigW on special. Nappies weren't cheaper either.

The whole reason to go is for the novelty of the food stuffs. I bought a plastic 1kg tub of Vegemite and a massive 500ml bottle of Tabasco not because i like to soak my food in Tabasco but i just thought it was cool. 5kg tubs of yoghurt are slightly bigger than the 500ml ones i normally buy but seriously it wouldn't fit in my fridge anywhere. You can get 5kg buckets of cake mix and you'll need the 12kg of chocolate ganache to go with it.

BIG is the motto here whether you are buying big quantities of things, buying big sized things or your intention for you and your family is to become really BIG. Seriously inappropriate pizza's that would need to be cut in half to fit in a 90cm oven and totally offensive glazed doughnuts that honestly nobody needs. Massive tubs of Nutella, gigantic packs of chocolates and silly sized frozen cookies and ice-creams.

You can also get your milk, bread, fruit&veg and meat here which aren't cheap. Sorry lovers of Costco but think about it why would they discount the regular stuff that you are going to buy anyway. They're counting on you to pick up a couple of loaves of bread and apples whilst you're there buying high pressure water cleaners.

I did buy a few things - just cos i could. The Vegemite, Tabasco and Reese's Pieces as previously mentioned a tshirt for my son, a ream of multi coloured paper and my friend and i went halves in a box of Swiss Miss hot chocolate sachets (30each)

Would i go again? definitely. For $70 a membership for the privildege of shopping there I'd pass if you're looking for bargain shopping or cheaper prices. Still cheaper elsewhere on special. If you are looking for something different or something in bulk then yeah its kinda cool.

Also if you know them..... you can get Churros from the kiosk (i resisted this time)