Costco, Sam’s, BJ’s – Warehouse Clubs 2010

Posted on by Forest in Grocery Shopping, Recipes & Food, Saving Money & Finances

Horse and Buggy Parking at a Costco in PA

Apart from the mortgage grocery shopping is often the biggest spend on our monthly budgets. We all know we could cut down by being a little smarter with our spending and one way of doing this is buying in bulk. One of the best ways to get amazing deals and great bulk purchases is by shopping an a warehouse club that requires some form of membership.

These kind of stores keep costs down to bare minimums with tricks such as lowering lights on sunny days, buying in huge mass from a few suppliers, re-using packaging materials that items come in from their vendors and other such things. This enables many of them to be cheap enough for smaller businesses to use as suppliers. I still think you should use local stores for fresh produce to be supportive of your local economy and get the best produce but for long term and branded items such as rice, tea, coffee etc etc you can’t beat a warehouse club (let me know if I am wrong there!).

The big 3: Costco, Sam’s BJ’s – Warehouse Clubs 2010

Three of the biggest warehouse clubs in USA are Costco, BJ’s and Sam’s. Let’s take a quick look at them and how you can join them to start saving big on your groceries.

Costco

Costco is the biggest warehouse store in USA and the third biggest retailer in USA. They also operate in many other countries such as Canada, UK and Australia. They have been around since 1983 (started in Seattle) and have grown significantly since.

I love Costco as find them pretty easy to navigate, they have  a great selection and often provide other services such as pharmacies, gas, tyre changes and fast food (if you fancy a frozen yoghurt treat or something!). One of my favorite Costco experiences was in PA when I saw they had Horse and Buggy parking for the large local Amish community, brilliant!

Membership is purchased yearly in advance and for an individual or business is currently $50 per year. An upgrade to executive membership can be made for $50 more per year and gives such benefits as up to 2% rewards back every year.

Sam’s Club

Sam’s club is named after it’s founder Sam Walton who is also the fonder of Walmart. Walmart also own and run Sam’s club. They also started in 1983 (in Midwest City, Oklahoma) and have the most USA locations of any warehouse club currently operating in 48 states.

Stores stock pretty much the same as Costco and offer similar additional services. One cool thing is all stores offer free WIFI for their customers, great for price checking on your smart phone!

Advantage, Advantage plus, Business and Business plus are the 4 membership options offered but you can also often find 1 day passes from Walmart newspaper ads or download one from their website (often they incur a 10% service charge on your purchases.

• Business Membership Annual membership fee $35
• Business Plus Membership Annual membership fee $100
• Advantage Membership Annual membership fee $40
• Advantage Plus Membership Annual membership fee $100

BJ’s Wholesale Club

Started in 1984 (just shortly after Sam’s and Costco), on the Medford/Malden border in Massachusetts BJ’s is the third largest membership warehouse club in USA. It operates on the East Coast and has stores in Ohio. BJ stands for Beverly James the name of one of the founders daughters, just in case you wondered!

BJ’s is a little more flexible than the competition in ways that it accepts most major payments methods (inc Visa) and I believe you can shop there without membership albeit without a host of member exclusive discounts and benefits. They often host extra services much like Costco and Sam’s club.

Memberships come in 2 varieties valid for 12 months. BJ’s inner circle is $45 per year and offers about 60% of the listed benefits of the upgraded BJ’s Rewards membership which is available for $90 per year.

Which warehouse club should you join?

From my experience (not actually been to BJ’s) these clubs are much for much the same. They have great pricing and convenient services for other things you may need done. Memberships when broken down to monthly cost are essentially the same so I think it boils down to who is closest and if their store stocks all your needs.

Costco is the largest and I have had the most experience with them. Their extreme money saving methods also inadvertently help to make the business greener in some ways however most are only really accessible by car so that has to be factored in when you are thinking environmentally.

I’m sure many of you have tried these warehouse clubs and I would love your feedback.

Tags: best warehouse clubs, cheapest grocery stores, costco vs sams club, membership warehouse clubs