Membership

Costco is a membership-based warehouse club, meaning that in most cases one must purchase a membership in order to enter the store or make purchases. Individuals and businesses may purchase annual memberships at varying costs ($50-$100). Costco Cash cards are the one loophole to this rule. One must be a member in order purchase or load additional value on Costco Cash cards (gift cards), but one does not need to be a member to use a card at any location. Therefore, an individual could have a friend/family member with a membership purchase a card for them and the recipient would not have to have his or her own membership.

Costco caters to both individuals in a retail manner and other businesses in a wholesale manner. Businesses purchasing items with intent to resell them do not have to pay sales tax, granted they have the appropriate tax-exempt certificate. Business members have exclusive shopping hours Monday through Friday 10:00-11:00am before the warehouse opens to the public.

Products

Costco carries a wide variety of products ranging from food items to office supplies and even some special order items such as garage doors and caskets. Many items are offered in multi-unit cartons with individual units labeled for retail sales. Other items are offered in single giant units ideal for institutional use. Costco tends to stock a limited variety of any given product, but they have large quantities on hand. (For example, they may only carry two brands of toilet paper, but they have hundreds of packages of each.)

Services

Costco has a variety of services available to members at all local locations (except where noted).

• 1-hour photo/digital prints
• ATM
• Auto Buying Program
• Bakery, Deli, Meat, Produce departments
• Food Court
• Gas Station (not at Roseville location)
• Hearing Aid Center (not at Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights locations)
• Licensed Optician
• Pharmacy
• Special-Order and Travel Kiosks
• Tire Center
• Garden Center (only at Citrus Heights location)

Food and Drink

Costco has a decent food court that might not beat IKEA in variety, but may be a better value for some. For example, a jumbo kosher dog and 20 oz. drink is only $1.50. They also sell churros, pizza, and chicken bakes, which appear to be breaded Caesar chicken wraps.

If the food court isn't cheap enough for you, there are at least a dozen food samplers on any given day that will feed you for free.

Payment

Inside the warehouses, cash, checks, PIN-based debit cards, Costco Cash pre-loaded cards, and American Express credit cards are accepted. At the gas stations, only card payments are accepted. Customers wishing to pay with cash or check must go into the warehouse and purchase a Costco Cash card prior to pumping.

Links

Wikipedia Davis Wiki

Comments

2007-11-16 19:07:28   This place is just awesome. You can get virtually any big name product for at least a few bucks cheaper than at any other retail...for example, I got a new ipod touch for 389 instead of the normal 399 retail, and a Wii game for $43 instead of $50. The bulk buying is great, the Kirkland brand is usually good...Produce is always good and almost as cheap as a good Farmer's market deal. Also, a 1.75L bottle of Grey Goose for $55 is about as good as it gets. —DanielNguyen