We don't have a Costco now near us, but it depends on the area. Some Costcos are better than other. The one in No CA have items other don't. I don't think you really save that much if you have good groceries near you. I think you can get a one day pass, but not write a check. Is it worth the money? Only you can decide. To me an hour's drive would be worth it..

Forgot, we have a business card that allows more. DH use to have a consulting business, and we added our DD and SIL. You get in earlier and receive a nice brochure with coupons.

We love Costco. The products they carry are usually of the highest quality and their own Kirkland brand is not bad either.

I can't image being an hour away from a Costco. We have three of them within ten minutes of our house. Total overkill but it comes in handy when one Costco is out of something you just can't live without. Chances are one of them has it.

You can go inside and shop around Costco without a membership card, you just can't buy. :-)

Tag along with a friend who has a membership or visit Costco.com to get a better idea what they have.

The only downside to our Costcos is that they will only accept American Express, cash, debit or a check with the name that is on the membership card.

I've never heard of Jungle Jim's so can't help you out there.

Jodi-

Ask your brothers or friends if they can add you to their card. No, I've never heard that Costco will give you a day pass. You can always go into the membership desk and ask to look around. Sam's Club will allow you to shop without a card, I guess, but I've never heard that about Costco.

We love Costco, one reason is that the quality is uniformly high. And we have two stores about 20 miles apart, and they carry different stuff, because they are in different demographic areas. The one in the high-rent district carries a lot more variety in wines and liquor and things like fancier cheeses. SO the stores can vary within a small area, too.

Try it, you'll like it! ;-)

Jodi, can't do that as everyone I know who shops there is out West somewhere. ) :

Come visit me Kath and I'll take you to all three. :-)

Jodi-

Gee, thanks Jodi, next time I'm in southern CA I'll take you up on that offer.

Bring cash. :-)

Never heard of Jungle Jim's but I've been in Sam's Club, Trader Joe's and Costco. TJ's is a different store than Sam's or Costco and there's no membership fee but many people compare them. With all the hullabaloo over TJ's I was curious to see what it was all about. Well, I found out! Although I will say I might go there occasionally but not for much.

Sam's and Costco both have membership fees. Whether it's worth it for you to pay to shop someplace is something you need to decide. I'd suggest going in (just walk in the store - they won't arrest you), take a pocket recorder with you and record prices or at least take copious notes. Both places carry a lot of name brand items and they have house brand items too and usually they're in institutional sizes so if you need to buy Skippy peanut butter a gallon at a time it's a place to get it, although many large grocery stores carry the larger sizes now too. Even Target carries the large size promos and usually at much better prices. When I've been in both places I logged prices on quite a number of common items like coffee, cat litter, laundry detergent, dish soap, toothpaste and more. I found something interesting. In no case was Sam's or Costco cheaper on general staples, cleaners, coffee, tea, than I can buy elsewhere and I wouldn't have to pay them to shop there and go through all the extra headaches. I should add that there were certain things like pizza rolls, bagel bites and certain bulk snack items where they would be a little cheaper but I didn't buy enough of it to offset the expenses.

Much of the success of these places are the illusion of value. A 96 oz jug of Dawn, for instance MUST be cheaper than buying seven 14 oz size, right? Not always! The small ones are often on sale for anywhere from 50 - $1 which put it much cheaper than the warehouse jug. Generic cat litter was twice the price of Fleet Farm's generic and 1/3 more than Tidy Cats at Target. 500 paper plates cost way more than five 100 packs. Just a few examples. So if you're truly looking to save some money you really need to record the price and the size so you can compare prices and then compare them. You may well be very surprised at the "cost" of Costco!

The other caution is there's limited variety in the warehouse stores both to size and brand. They have a lot of SKUs, yes but in for instance Crest, you have 2 or 3 different kinds of 3 or 4 packs so you might not get the flavor you prefer. Virtually all items are very large sizes. Some things need to be broken down into smaller sizes to keep from spoiling. Spoilage is expensive. If you have to use 50¢-$1's worth of plastic bags to repackage things, be sure to factor that into the cost of the items.

If it's a long drive, again, you need to factor in the cost of the drive. Is your time worth anything? Or do you shop as a hobby?

Another thing to keep in mind is that they get a lot of limited time things so if you find something you like and it's cheap, it might not be there next time. That can be frustrating. If I drove an hour and didn't get what I wanted... well I wouldn't be happy, especially factoring in $15 in gas spent, to say nothing of the wear on the vehicle, to try to "save" money.

I had a Sam's membership. Thought about Costco, but after the Sam's experience I said nope. I didn't like the long lines, the too-high prices and then have to check out twice to leave. Trying to get help in these stores is laughable. I bought a recliner there and had to load it by myself. No help from them. It's not a service store.

One other suggestion: Before you go in there, make up a list of what you want to get. Ideally, note current prices on there so you can compare it in store. That way you can see if they actually can provide you your shopping needs. They sure didn't for me. You'll probably still need to shop elsewhere so the cost of going there is something to factor in.

I'd be curious to see what you find and how the prices compared for your shopping needs. Hope you will post back with initial results and impressions.

I recently moved from having a Costco about 5 minutes away to having it about 45 minutes away (with good traffic). I let my membership lapse due to the driving distance. I have never heard of a Jungle Jim's before so I can not comment on that. To my knowledge, Coscto will not let you in without a membership. They may make you get a one day pass at the membership counter. I do know that they (at least the one I went to) check your membership at the door.
I will agree with what some others have said. The quality of products that Costco sells is pretty darn good. Most of their meat, while more expensive than other places, seemed to be a better quality. Their ready to bake pizzas were a good deal too, and they are darn tasty. I am a little sad about not being able to frequent there anymore, but I will live. If it was close by, I say it is worth a look around. If it takes a while to get to, I would say you can do just as good elsewhere when time/money is factored in.

Costco wanted to build on the western border of our town but the town thought it was 'too good' for the likes of Costco. So...now they are building a store on the eastern edge of the town west of us! THAT town will get the tax benes, and our town's merchants will suffer anyway. Sigh.

We first bought a Costco membership because it was the best shopping available on Maui. At home we go there about four times a year. I often think ours is the emptiest cart in the line, but I do like their beef, muffins and some things like sheets and towels. I doubt whether paying $50 to shop there reaps any savings for us in Chicagoland, but it does on Maui.

I agree w/Cynic that if you look carefully, Costco's pricing on many staples is not as good as you can find at retail stores everywhere -- especially if you use manufacturers' coupons. I wonder if they don't make their money on impulse buying. The shopper believes that he can splurge because he's 'buying wholesale'. LOL I also know people who are storing years' worth of 'pantry stock' -- from Costco. (Might make sense in inflationary times, but we haven't seen that for a while.)

I had a Costco membership in No. Cal. The store was conveniently located and I bought all my paper goods and vitamins there. When I moved to IA, I drove to Des Moines once to shop at Costco and decided it wasn't worth the drive. I have 2 WalMarts here, one being a Super Wal. I buy my paper goods, pet food, vitamins and more there. So you have a Super Wal near you Kathy? Do you have a Sam's Club in your town?
Off the subject Kathy, but a friend's grandaughter moved to your town recently and had only been in KY once before when we went to Appalachia. Poor thing thought all of KY was like Appalachia before they moved. Now she loves your town.

Linda, yes we have a super Wal-Mart here and I hate shopping there. Everything is hard to find. Sam's Club in Lexington, half hour away with good traffic.

What brought your friend's gd to KY to live? I like our little town even though we don't have a movie theater or a lot of variety of restaurants.

Jungle Jim's, for anyone curious

Well, we are back from Jungle Jim's. Wasn't worth the trip, which was about an hour longer than normal because of construction on the bridge going across the Kentucky River. We walked around, looked at stuff, their international sections were a joke. The German section had one tiny display of chocolates, that was all. The biggest section was the Oriental section, but we were all disappointed and left after walking through to see things.

We ate at Outback Steakhouse, attempted to see a movie but the next one playing that we all wanted to see was nearly 2 hours from then so we left and came home. Went shopping at Krogers a few minutes ago.