Costco, BJs, Sam's Club - Do You Have a Preference (Discussion)

[AppleDumpling]

I’ve been a loyal BJ’s shopper for many years. I generally go at least once a month. There are two convenient locations near us. Just got a free turkey this week for spending $150. Have been to Costco a handful of times with friends, but have never been a member. From what I could tell, it’s fairly comparable. No Sam’s Club close by.

 

[OneOftheB's]

I prefer BJs. I actually drive past a Sam's Club to get to BJs. We also have a membership to Costco, but the ones around me are insane with traffic, inside and out. I might go there once a year but I am at BJ's probably once a month buying bulk items for my family and our office.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The comments about Costco and crowdedness and traffic remind me about chick-fil-a. It doesn't seem to matter how many of those are built they are all always busy

I always get a groan from my husband if I saw "we should go to Costco" and it's the weekend.

 

[auntfrannie]

I have all three. We used to only have Costco which was about 45 minutes away. Then Sam's Club opened and it's only 20 minutes away. I don't think the lines get crazy busy like Costco does. I haven't used my Costco membership in over a year.

Part of it is because I can't do shipping from Costco like I can from Sam's Club. Costco has delivery but I'm too far away and they don't offer all of their products via shipping. BJ's has closer to normal size packaging; that's the only benefit they have versus the huge sizes that Costco and Sam's Club have.

 

[EACarlson]

I have Sam's, when the kids were little we used the Sam's brand diapers and saw huge savings, then it was on my insulin needles. Now I don't know that we save a huge amount but enough to make it worthwhile. We tried Costco, but the diapers were more expensive and only had the brand names. Never been in a BJ's.

It's Costco for us. No BJ's or Same Club.

Restaurant Depot should be opening soon. Might check it out (not sure it's for us though/big bulk, etc.)

Has Restaurant Depot changed? It used to require a food service license to get a membership.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Sam's was here first, we had membership for years. Was okay. Costco opened here about 15 years ago. We carried both for a few years, then dropped Sam's. Sam's always seemed dark, dingy, Costco, bright and cheery. Help was not around much at Sam's always available at Costco. Cashier lanes open quickly at Costco, not so at Sam's. The Sam's we did go to closed about 5 years or so ago. There is another, further away. We're Costco fans.

 

[AnnaS]

I have Sam's, when the kids were little we used the Sam's brand diapers and saw huge savings, then it was on my insulin needles. Now I don't know that we save a huge amount but enough to make it worthwhile. We tried Costco, but the diapers were more expensive and only had the brand names. Never been in a BJ's.


Has Restaurant Depot changed? It used to require a food service license to get a membership.

You do need a business license - not sure if it's necessarily a food license. I can get in with a family member. I was in once or twice. Unless I split "food" with my kids - not sure I need all that food at once (unless one is hosting a party). We had a card many years ago with Jetro through my FILs business (food).

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2017, I wrote this when someone else asked "Costco or Bj's?" I think my experience very much mimics your own. Not too much has changed, surprisingly.

We were Costco members for years, then we moved and BJ's was closer, so we dropped our Costco membership and started going to BJ's. It didn't take us too long to realize what a mistake that was and found ourselves driving a little further just to be at Costco again. We found that the produce at BJ's was consistently horrible. They left the older stuff out languishing and wouldn't bring out the fresher stuff because the older produce hadn't sold yet. By the time the "fresher" stuff was put on the shelves, it was also on its last legs. It was a vicious cycle. At Costco, their fresh food is almost always very fresh due to the high turnover. I also found the quality of BJ's items to just be average...nothing super special to be found there overall. One thing that we did like about BJ's over Costco was the deli where they would slice lunch meats and cheeses for you. Costco only has their deli meat sold in pre-portioned packages and we didn't care for the thicker cut they use. There are lots of other great things about Costco, such as their cheque (check) printing, auto purchasing program, etc. Their Kirkland branded items are almost always as good as or better than the name brands. Plus, their rotisserie chicken was rated the best out of a number of candidates in a taste test done a few years back. We also shop a fair bit from Costco.com. They seem to carry a number of items that aren't available in their stores, the prices are really good, many items ship free, and returns are easily made in store if necessary. I have told my husband that we can not live in a location that doesn't have a Costco nearby ever again!

 

[tvguy]

No BJ's here. They are only in 20 states, Costco is in 46 and Sam's Club 44 so the latter two may be a better comparison on a national basis.
I used to belong to Sams Club, but at that point Walmart hadn's come to California. Once Walmart opened here, the prices were similar so no point in keeping the membership.
I have never been in a Costco, but my daughter belongs. She goes once a month for paper products and their selection on vegetarian products. Everything else she gets at Safeway or Target. She did buy some vanilla extract for my wife, since Costco carries the 16 ounce bottle, most grocery stores only sell the 4 ounce bottles. Yes, my wife bakes A lot. Our other issue with Costco is they have limited hours and don't open until 9 am Our daughter likes to shop at 6 am, and my wife and I shop at 7 am.
I used to belong to Smart and Final but they did away with memberships and anyone can shop there. And I only had the membership so I could shop there for our Little League snack bar. I haven't been involved in Little League in nearly 20 years, but we used to buy 60 pounds a week of hot dogs (thats 1080 hot dogs)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have a Sam's Club membership. It's about 4 miles away. Closest Costco is about 10 miles away.

Way back in the day when we joined the big box store it was PACE. And the only reason we joined was at the time I was buying 4-5 gallons of milk a week (3 kids and a husband who also drank milk). The price difference of the milk in a regular store vs the price at PACE was big enough that we spent less money joining PACE and buying our milk there.

Then Sam's Club bought out PACE. And our membership was transferred over. We don't buy as much milk now, but we've found plenty of other stuff to buy there.

My brief foray in Costco (guest of MIL) I found that Costco has more name brand things, but Sam's Club brand of many items is good.

 

[kanne323]

This is timely. I have a Sam's membership that needs renewing in three days. But my state's first ever Costco is opening on 11/17. I'm trying to decide what to do now.

They will be less than a mile apart (traffic is going to be a nightmare on that road.) I currently go to Sam's maybe once every other month to shop and about twice a month for gas. Gas is consistently about 30 cents a gallon cheaper than anywhere else around, so that alone makes it worth it. I do buy way too many pieces of clothing there, but it's almost always yoga pants, leggings, other casual lounge wear. When I have gone to Costco while visiting my parents out of state, I've found more business casual clothing choices. So I'm not sure what to do now. I'm thinking I might take advantage of the special rates and do one year at Costco and also renew Sam's, to see what ends up being the better deal. I just don't know if I can face Costco... it's going to be an absolute madhouse, and the parking lot looks small already. I suspect it'll be really busy for quite some time, since it will be the only one in the state.

 

[AustinTink]

I have both Sam’s and Costco memberships. I only got the Costco membership because my kid shops there and tried to convince me it’s better than Sam’s. It’s not.

I’ll let the Costco membership go when my year is up.

 

[E&Cmom]

We only have Costco. I haven’t stepped in either of the others.

 

[starry_solo]

Sam's Club, but only because it's only 3 miles away.
Costco is about 6-8 miles away, in an area of town that is so inconvenient due to all the construction that's been going on (for years) that it's a traffic jam daily to get in/out of the area. I think someone in one of the local Facebook groups mentioned that it took 30 minutes to get out of the shopping center/plaza onto the city street due to all the traffic.

 

[sunshine1178]

I literally re-upped my Costco membership last week so I could get the big, wonderful roll of wrapping paper and some yummy ore-made food.

Well, they don’t sell the big roll anymore - now it’s a small 3-pack with print on both sides. I wanted the grid!

The food selection was very similar to Sam’s Club, except that Sam’s also has sushi. Neither of them carry refrigerated pizza anymore and they both have long lines for the hot chicken. Also, our food court was “closed for construction”!

Guess P.T. Barnum was right about me…

 

[dznymemories]

We are very lucky in that we have very easy access to Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's. The are all in the same direction from us and are 2.7, 3.1 and 3.9 miles from us. We signed up for Costco in the parking lot tent in 1996. You were given a free membership for a year if you signed before they opened. They have since done what amounted to building a new shell around the original building, making so much more room. Joined Sam's Club after they had been open a while and offered a refund on membership if you were not happy. We gave them a fair test and it came down to trained and motivated employees, time spent in checking out, and return policy. We received our refund and were happy that we tried them. BJ's opened about two years ago and again offered a very nice bonus for signing up. They always have enough helpful employees, always have stock, clean, and like our Costco, a very good selection of name brand casual clothing for men and women. Both Costco and BJ's are easy for us to gas up at great savings. The savings on gas alone would go a long way toward paying for our memberships. Recently one of our son's was going to get BJ's for the gas savings to his company so DH has a card for that account so we won't have to re-up this year. It all depends on your local situation, what you value and how your local store is managed. We still pay for our own gas.

 

[amcnj]

Sam’s was the first warehouse store to the area, but it was 30 miles away. Eventually BJ’s joined them and later Costco. They each carried a lot of the same or similar type products, but also each had some items the others did not. I am not sure if that’s still the case as I haven’t really compared them all for years. I have not been in a Sam’s club for a long time now.

Currently a BJ’s is the closest (5 miles) Costco next (10 miles), and Sam’s the furthest (19 miles). The Costco is pretty much always much busier than BJ’s, making it more of a challenge to shop there. Also my state only recently allowed such clubs to restrict gas sales to members only, and as a result the BJ’s did not have gas stations. Some have since added them, but some locations don’t have the room for it, including the one that is only five miles from here.

Decades ago the Sam’s club had a decent snack bar, but as I said before, I haven’t been to one in a long time. The closest BJ’s closed their snack bar and has a Dunkin Donuts inside, while Costco still has their snack bar, but with some offering changes in the past few years. I think the Costco bakery section is better than BJ’s.

I do like Costco but it can be so crowded that it detracts from the experience. They get extra points for the snack bar and for having gas pumps. The BJ’s is closer and easier to get to, so gets points for convenience, especially if you need just an item or two or three.

 

[Christine]

Question regarding Costco versus Sam's: The one aspect of Costco I really do love is the sourcing of unique food items that don't seem to be found at any other grocery store or warehouse. Those items are never there for good but some of them have been really, really good (mostly frozen items). It kind of reminds me of the Trader Joe's model but on a larger scale and, of course, branded. I was hoping to see that BJs had something similar but they don't. Just the same old, same old I can get at any local store. I find the food products at Costco to be, well, kind of exciting and I love trying the new things they have, sometimes sad when they go. There's a great Costco subreddit that shows all the new stuff and plenty of people chime in to rate the products. Soooo....my question is: Is Sam's like that or more along the lines of BJs?

To @kanne323 regarding the clothing, I will have to take a look at Sam's offerings. BJs clothing offerings were depressing and definitely the quality was a step lower than what Costco offers. That said, for women at least, Costco has seemed to have really pulled back on most of the "business" type options for women and they now offer at least 20 different types of sweatshirts and pull on pants, lol!! That was a COVID stay-at-home effect that most stores suffered but Costco seems to be keeping with those styles, so I've bought far less in clothing than I used to. I think the men's choices are great though!

 

[TippyThomas]

I am a member of Sam's because it is about 30 minutes away from my home. Any of the other options would be close to 2 hours away so not really good options. I did upgrade my membership for free shipping and use that pretty regularly and go to the actual location about every month to 6 weeks or so.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Been in Sams a few times and maybe its just the one closest to us but it is a dump. We have two Costco and a BJs within 20-30 minutes of us. Both are comparable to each other but BJ's does seem to be less crowded which I like cause our Costco's are a madhouse. Generally only stop there to get gas on the way to work. Not to crowded at 6:30am